BERBKE HERMANS
the art of speaking
For 24 years, I taught voice and speech techniques at the Institute of Performative Arts Maastricht.
I am grateful for the generations of actors, performers, and directors whom I have had the privilege of training to become professional speakers. I trained the voice, articulation, and expressive power of the speaker. The rest is the work of the artist themselves.
My foundation lies in the Bachelor's degree in Speech Therapy, which I completed in 2002, and I obtained my Master's degree in Theatre and Film Studies in 2015.
In 2022, I founded Spreekverkenning out of a need to connect my profession with other target groups. Since then, I have also worked with teachers, journalists, and presenters, among others.
My love for language is part of the foundation. Language in the sense of text. I work with a wide range of textual material, from poetry to film scripts and from news reports to voice-over text. Together with the speaker, I explore the connection between the speaker and the written language.
But also the diversity of spoken language. Speakers who do not stand before an audience in their native language. I enjoy exploring the influence language has on the authenticity of the speaker and how the speaker can use multilingualism to their advantage.
The OE of the past
A documentary about the transmission of language and speech in the theater. How do you ensure that, as an actor, you touch your audience? With: Gijs Scholten van Aschat, Joes Brauers, Lindsay Zwaan, Romy Roelofsen, Berbke Hermans, Oene Zwietink, Sander van Egmond. Made by: Maurice Copier, Maarten Schellekens, Sander van Egmond.
I enjoy working with
MAASTRICHT THEATRE ACADEMY
Berbke was a lecturer in Speech and Voice Technique and Expression at the Institute of Performative Arts Maastricht from 2002 to 2026. The speech classes at the Academy have been taught using the Maastricht Method for nearly 50 years. This is a professional approach to speech and language in time and space.
