In 2020, the acting and training community mourned the passing of internationally renowned voice coach Kristin Linklater. In 2014, Australia quietly lost an equally significant voice coach. Like Linklater, Betty Williams trained with Iris Warren. Unlike Linklater, Williams chose not to publish anything about her approach to actor training. Rather, her work only exists in the performances of the hundreds of actors she trained at Australia’s National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) between 1973 and 2011. I was apprenticed to Betty Williams in 1995, as a post-graduate student within the NIDA Voice Studies course. From week to week I observed her classes, private tutorials, and collaborations with the country’s prominent theatre directors. She equipped me with practical exercises, dialect resources, and a passion for the playwright’s words, before sending me out into the world to pass down ‘the wisdom of the tribe’ to a new generation of actors. In 2001, and again in 2011, Williams generously allowed me to return to NIDA to interview her about her approach to voice training. Using transcripts from both the 2001 interview and the final interview she gave just days before retiring in 2011, this extended conversation provides insight into the training of Australian actors’ voices.

2020年，演艺界和培训界哀悼国际知名声优教练克里斯汀林克莱特的逝世。2014 年，澳大利亚悄然失去了一位同样重要的语音教练。和林克莱特一样，贝蒂威廉姆斯和艾瑞斯沃伦一起训练。与林克莱特不同的是，威廉姆斯选择不发表任何关于她的演员训练方法的信息。相反，她的作品只存在于 1973 年至 2011 年间她在澳大利亚国家戏剧艺术学院 (NIDA) 训练的数百名演员的表演中。我于 1995 年成为贝蒂·威廉姆斯的学徒，当时是 NIDA Voice 的研究生研究课程。我每周都在观察她的课程、私人辅导以及与该国著名戏剧导演的合作。她为我提供了实践练习、方言资源以及对剧作家文字的热情，在派我到世界上将“部落的智慧”传给新一代演员之前。2001 年和 2011 年，威廉姆斯慷慨地允许我回到 NIDA 采访她，了解她的语音训练方法。使用 2001 年的采访和她在 2011 年退休前几天的最后一次采访的记录，这次扩展的对话提供了对澳大利亚演员声音训练的洞察。