Re: How do you “see” words and numbers?

[Patte Rosebank]

I only recently realized that most people don’t “see” words as I do. For me, each word conjures up a picture and/or a mood. “Bed” is an easy one, because it looks like a bed (low in the middle & high at each end like a four-poster). “Happy” looks & feels happy to me. “Angry” looks & feels angry to me. “Lady” looks & feels refined & feminine. “Woman” looks & feels tough and assertive.

Another thing: When I read a script, I can see & hear exactly how it should be when performed. Plus, I find I get so much more out of TV & radio comedies when I can read the script. It’s as if the script is the material in its purest form, just as the writers wrote it, open to all possibilities of interpretation. And it reinforces my appreciation for the material as performed. Because of this, I love the fact that, in the UK, comedy shows will sometimes have their scripts published in book form. It’s fascinating to read the actual scripts for “Blackadder”, “Steptoe & Son” (the original inspiration for “Sanford & Son”), “Little Britain”, etc.

I’ve heard that many chefs (and even my mother, who burns most of what she cooks) can read a recipe and know exactly how it will taste before they even make it, and that professional musicians can read a music score and hear it in their heads. I guess I’m the same way, but with scripts. And, just like those chefs & musicians, I can just look at that written material once, and get it nearly perfect the very first time I read/perform it aloud—a very useful skill when doing cold-reads at auditions. (Unfortunately, memorizing lines is not so easy, but it’s much easier if I can listen to a recording of it, as well as looking at the script.)

I once voiced the femme fatale in a radio drama, and, at the recording session, the producer-director recorded our initial read-through, in case we came up with something good. I was in the heaviest scene, and, at the end of the read-through, the p-d, amazed, said, “We don’t have to do another take. That was perfect.” Apparently, such a thing had never happened before, and he’d been doing these radio dramas for several years!

Anybody out there need a voice actress, who’s really quick on the uptake?

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