Centre Stage

How the world's best actors communicate with gravitas - and how you can, too.

'Jeannette's knowledge is astonishing' Derren Brown
'There is no one better' Rory Kinnear
'A true gift for us all' Indhu Rubasingham


Every time you deliver a speech, give a presentation, or simply tell a good story, you are taking centre stage. Here, one of the world’s leading voice coaches introduces the simple exercises that great actors use to hold people’s attention – and reveals how anyone speaking in public can use them.

Drawing on 25 years working at the National Theatre in London, Jeannette Nelson explains:

• How to warm up your voice and body before a big speech.
• How learning to breathe deeply can improve your clarity and pace
• How to divide a script into individual ‘thoughts’ so it flows more naturally.
• How to adapt your delivery to suit any environment, be it a 1,000-seater auditorium or an intimate Zoom meeting.

Along the way, she recounts stories from leading actors that pull back the curtain on how they learnt to own the room, and how you can too. If all the world’s a stage, this book will turn you into its lead actor.