An Actor's Process: how voice of Wallace, Ben Whitehead, brought Elon Musk to The Fringe
I’m always curious about an actor’s process, especially when they move from the world of voice over (or screen work) to live theatre. What changes for them in the process and how do they do it? Well, I was lucky enough to catch an interview with actor Ben Whitehead during his run as Elon in ‘Elon Musk: Lost in Space’ at The Edinburgh Fringe to find out how he went about it.
Ben, who has famously become the new voice of Wallace in the Wallace and Gromit franchise (most recently in Vengeance Most Fowl), plays Elon in this darkly comic sci-fi satire about the world’s richest man unravelling in space. Running from 11-23rd August at the Space at Surgeon’s Hall, he plays alongside Off West End Award winning actress and theatre maker, Sarah Lawrie, who is the ship’s computer, M-UTHA (pronounced Mother), in this two-handed piece written by Aria and Sony Gold winning writer and producer, David Morley. The star-studded creative team is guided by the directing talents of Olivier nominated John Nicholson, (Peepolykus).
The first difference I was struck by was the preparation time given. For his role as Elon, Ben had a 10-day rehearsal period alongside a couple of script read-through days to bring this world premier to The Fringe: short by industry standards, considering most live theatre productions usually get around 4-5 weeks to rehearse plus tech week and up to 7 if you’re at The National Theatre.
This is however in stark contrast to Ben’s experience in voice over (VO), where he admitted he doesn’t usually receive the sides or script until the day of recording. The only time he’s received a VO script in advance was for the role as Wallace.
The second difference we discussed was that the level of vocal mimicry and accuracy necessary, very much depends on the creative vision of the piece.
For Wallace, it was necessary for Ben to create a smooth, vocal transition for audiences when he took over from the late Peter Sallis on the films, so accuracy and similarity were crucial.
In contrast, this show is a comedy, and therefore the most important outcome is to make the audience laugh. As such, whilst his vocal talents as Elon (as well as his pre-recorded vocal appearances as Donald Trump, Sir Patrick Moore, Brian Cox and Arthur C. Clarke) are very accurate, they are not exact. In fact, Ben said he spent ages trying to record Donald Trump’s voice ‘right’, only for them to decide to use another take for the show where he had ‘played’ around with it more.
But how did he go about preparing the voice of Elon? As a Lecturer in Voice, I was keen to find out more.
A mix of listening to Musk’s speeches and drawing on personal experiences. A lot of “listening to him and what he says” was key to helping Ben find Elon’s voice. Ben was keen to point out however, that for this play, it couldn’t be an exact vocal likeness. Elon’s voice is notably monotone which presents vocal challenges in live theatre, so he’s had to play with pitch variation more to keep the audience entertained (not asleep).
One similarity between voice over and live theatre remains: the element of play. Being open to directors in the rehearsal room, or booth, is necessary, especially when devising new material. That play continues for Ben on stage alongside the reactions of the audience.
As Ben’s eighth time at The Fringe, he’s still keen to learn and see as much work as possible. Sharing a preference for the more experimental and edgy shows over mainstream productions, Ben’s highlights so far have been the work of Lucy Rolsyn in Lovettand Rob Duncan in Printer of the Year 2024. He expressed a desire to collaborate with more actors in the future: vastly different from the somewhat solo life of voice over. He talked about the possibility of him bringing his own solo show, Festival in the Bin to next year’s Fringe as well as the prospect of collaborating with David and Sarah again.
Reflecting on Ben’s journey to comedy acting success, it’s incredible to think that the man who studied Library and Information Management at Liverpool John Moores University, would not only attend his first Fringe some 30 years ago due to his involvement in the University Drama Society (a move that helped his side step onto the acting course instead), but would now find his niche in comedy and voice work, this time returning as the richest man in the world.
In short, there’s not one ‘right’ way to mimic a voice, just like there’s no ‘right’ process or way to succeed in this industry. Ben’s final thoughts to other actors was to “just do it” and learn as you go. You can catch Ben spiralling off-course as Elon until August 23.