The Voice in Stage and Screen Combat
MELBOURNE: Saturday 1st and Sunday 2nd November 2025
A groundbreaking new workshop that combines vocal training, text performance and stage combat training – taught by leading Voice Specialists Jean Goodwin and Geraldine Cook, and leading Fight Director Lyndall Grant.
WHAT IS IT?
This exciting new workshop is created for you to explore and craft your use of voice during scenes of heightened conflict and dramatic violence.
You will be working with industry specialists Jean Goodwin (Voice Specialist and accredited teacher of Vocal Combat Technique), Geraldine Cook (Voice and Dialect Specialist) and Lyndall Grant (accredited Stage Combat Teacher and Fight Director).
Voice performance is one of the most impactful elements of dramatic combat performance. It can make the difference between a believable and compelling scene, and an awkward piece of ‘staged’ fighting that holds up the story.
However voice performance and text in staged combat is often overlooked for a variety of reasons: our focus may be taken up with choreography, or we are performing actions that make us feel vulnerable or uncomfortable… or sometimes we just don’t consider it. Not only can this vastly undercut your story-telling, a few ‘bad shouts’ during a fight scene can have a huge impact on your vocal health for the rest of the show or even the rest of the run.
Jean, Geraldine and Lyndall are combining their industry knowledge to guide you through practical industry skills, to help you master the vocal and physical demands of this work. Over two days you will explore essential practices such as warm-up and cool-downs, vocal and physical conditioning, vocal expressions during stage combat techniques and choreography, injury performance, the intertwining of text and physical actions, and development of a fully-embodied character journey during a heightened or violent scene.
The result? You can embed integrated practices for performing violent scenes safely, effectively, and sustainably – so you can expand your creative choices, elevate your story-telling and uphold your physical and vocal health.
And, well, it’s LOADS of fun.
WHEN IS IT?
Saturday 1st and Sunday 2nd Novermber 2025
10:00am to 6:00pm
WHERE IS IT?
Dancehouse Carlton, Upstairs Studio
150 Princes St, Carlton North, 3054
WHO IS IT FOR?
This workshop is for any performer of any experience level – across theatre, film, motion capture, voiceover, music theatre, opera, circus etc… We will be covering foundational skills in voice and stage combat techniques – so complete newbies will be given a grounding in the work, while those with more experience can delve deeper into their practice. We also welcome all levels of fitness and ability. Each student is always supported to work within their boundaries – whether you prefer to take things more gently or be thrown right into the thick of it.
Captivate actively supports diverse and equitable work and learning spaces. If you have any concerns or questions please get in touch with us.
HOW MUCH IS IT?
EARLY BIRD: $495 (+GST) Register and finalise payment by 1st September 2025
CCONCESSION: $525 (+GST)
STANDARD: $555 (+GST)
HOW DO I JOIN IN?
Bookings are now open. Spots are very competitive – we have strict capacity limits and places sell out quickly. So register early to save your spot (and get the Early Bird price).
Just fill out the online registration form below! A minimum 50% deposit is required to complete your registration.
After you register you should receive a confirmation email. An invoice will be then sent to you within 2 working days. If you don’t hear from us at all then check your junk mail, then get in touch.
Please note that we’re not able to reserve your workshop place without a deposit payment. Your spot is only fully confirmed on receipt on full payment, and any payments made are nonrefundable.
About your tutors:
DR GERALDINE COOK-DAFNER (she/her): Voice and Dialect Specialist
Dr Geraldine Cook-Dafner Geraldine is a specialist in the teaching and coaching of voice, text and dialect. She is an Honorary Senior Fellow at the Victorian College of the Arts, Faculty of Fine Arts and Music, University of Melbourne, Australia where she previously held roles as Head of Voice, the inaugural Head of Performing Arts and Associate Dean, Equity.
Geraldine has been a regular voice, text and dialect coach for Malthouse, Red Stitch and for the Melbourne Theatre Company where her credits extend over 20 years. For Michael Cassel Productions, Geraldine’s work includes: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (Melbourne), &Juliet (Melbourne) and The Picture of Dorian Gray with Sarah Snook (London 2024) which won best actress at the Olivier Awards in 2024, and Broadway (NYC 2025) which has been nominated for 6 Tony awards including best actress. Geraldine is a Senior Editor for the International Dialects of English website and an Honorary Lifetime Member of the international Voice and Speech Teachers Association.
Geraldine holds a Doctor of Education from the University of Melbourne. Her thesis examines her extensive research into the application of actor vocal pedagogy with young deaf adults. Geraldine has received a Teaching Excellence Award from the University of Melbourne and an Australian Research Council Grant for her research into actor vocal pedagogy with young deaf adults.
Geraldine’s professional practice also includes working as a voice and communications consultant for the corporate and government sectors, specialising in working with people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. Geraldine provides pro bono work in voice and communication skills for the charity sector.
Geraldine’s current artistic project is a series of podcasts and performed readings called “Dispatches from the Frontline” which are drawn from the diary of a WW1 nurse. These “dispatches” are used to reference contemporary issues of care, duty, resilience and courage embodied daily by ‘front line’ workers during the COVID pandemic. For further information go to: http://www.dispatchesfromthefrontline.org/
JEAN GOODWIN (she/her): Voice Specialist
Jean Goodwin is a Dialect Coach and Lecturer (Voice, Dialect) in the Bachelor of Arts (Acting) and Bachelor of Arts (Music Theatre) programs at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA). She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts and a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Honours) in Theatre Practice (Voice and Dialect Acquisition) from the University of Melbourne (Victorian College of the Arts), as well as a certificate in Accents and Phonetics from the Voice Study Centre (University of Wales Trinity Saint David). Jean is also a certified Vocal Combat Technique teacher.
Jean is passionate about empowering actors-both in training and in the industry-to explore the full range of their vocal expression. Her approach is grounded in current voice science and pedagogy, blending traditional techniques with contemporary research to ensure actors develop technical proficiency alongside artistic freedom. Jean believes that a well-trained voice is not only resilient and versatile but also a vital tool for storytelling and creative transformation. Her work is driven by a commitment to helping actors develop robust, expressive, and sustainable voices that support their creative choices on stage, on screen, and throughout their careers.
Jean has worked across mainstage theatre, film, and television. Her recent coaching credits include: Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (Amazon Prime); Prima Facie, Dirty Birds, OIL (Black Swan State Theatre Company of WA); North by Northwest (Melbourne Theatre Company, Kay & McLean Productions); Arbus and West, Storm Boy (Melbourne Theatre Company); Lovesong, The Antipodes, HIR, INCOGNITO (Red Stitch Actors’ Theatre).
Jean has previously served as a Lecturer in Voice at the Victorian College of the Arts (University of Melbourne) and is currently the Coordinator of Voice for the Bachelor of Arts (Acting) program at WAAPA.
LYNDALL GRANT (she/her): Fight Director
LYNDALL GRANT (she/her) is a Fight Director, Movement Director, actor and Motion Capture Specialist who works in Australia and Internationally for stage and screen. She is a senior teacher and Management Committee member for the Society of Australian Fight Directors, and certified Dramatic Combat teacher with the British Academy of Dramatic Combat. Lyndall currently teaches stage combat at the Victorian College of the Arts, 16th Street Actors Studio and National Theatre Drama School.
Lyndall trained as an actor as London’s ArtsEd School of Acting, before specialising in fight performance and physical performance. She began working as a fight director in London in 2010. In 2013 Lyndall established Captivate Action Ltd. in the U.K., as the first company to specialise in training and performance in action and Motion Capture, and brought this company home to Australia in 2016. Lyndall was an actor and movement captain in Melbourne’s production of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child from 2018 to 2022
Recent fight/movement credits include MJ the Musical , The Picture of Dorian Gray (Michael Cassel Group); Oscar (The Australian Ballet); Rusalka (West Australian Opera); Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf, A Christmas Carol, Sunset Boulevard, Groundhog Day The Musical, Death of A Salesman, An American in Paris, 2:22 A Ghost Story (GWB); Beauty and the Beast (Disney Australia); Never Have I Ever, The Robot Dog, Cost of Living, Topdog/Underdog, The Almighty Sometimes, 37, My Sister Jill, A Very Jewish Christmas Carol, Is God Is, Sunday, As You Like It, Berlin, The Lifespan of a Fact, The Architect, Cosi, Torch the Place, The Lady in the Van, Astroman, Lillith the Jungle Girl, Straight White Men, Melbourne Talam, Macbeth, Hungry Ghosts (Melbourne Theatre Company); Cruel Intentions the Musical (David Venn Enterprises); Nosferatu, Looking for Alibrandi, Atlantis, The Return, Because the Night and Cloudstreet (Malthouse Theatre); 37 (Queensland Theatre Company); Sunday, Is God Is, Lord of the Flies, Cosi (Sydney Theatre Company), Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf?, Blackout Songs, The Way Things Are (Red Stitch); Il Viaggio A Reims (Opera Australia); Things I Know to Be True (Theatre Works); Milked, True West, Two Remain, Punk Rock (45 Downstairs), The Importance of Being Earnest (Theatre Royal Haymarket, U.K.), Alice in Winterland, The Wind in the Willows, The Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe (Rose Theatre Kingston, U.K.), Henry IV Part 1 (St. James Theatre, U.K.), Romeo and Juliet (Melbourne Shakespeare Company).
JOSH BELL (he/him): Assistant Fight Director
JOSH BELL (he/him) is a journey-level fight director, actor and theatre-maker based in Melbourne. Under the mentorship of Lyndall Grant he is an assistant fight director at Captivate Action, and is a member of the Society of Australian Fight Directors. He has a BFA in Theatre Practice (Acting Company 2016) from the Victorian College of the Arts. Josh has regular teaching engagements teaching stage combat to students across public workshops, university and secondary schools – including Collarts, Grace Acting Studios, National Theatre Drama School and Victorian College of the Arts Secondary School.
Fight credits include The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Slay Theatre); Hamlet, The Whale, Julius Caesar, 12th Night, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Melbourne Shakespeare Company); Powder Room (MC Showroom); Crocodile Fever (TART Theatre Collective); The View From Up Here (The Voice in My Hands, Theatreworks); Gundog (Three Fates Theatre); Cloud 9 (VCA); Everyone is Famous (Riot Theatre); The Cane (Red Stitch Theatre); The Human Voice Project (Periscope Productions); and Stockholm (Et Tu Theatre).
We look forward to seeing you there!
Got questions? Get in touch
