Overview

Beginning with his struggle with destructive forces, and his first meetings with Roy Hart, the author recounts the fantastic work of discovery and redress of the human voice which begins with the devastating experiences of Alfred Wolfsohn, a young German musician and singing teacher in the trenches of World War 1. There follows his meeting in London in 1947 with a gifted young actor, Roy Hart, on a scholarship at RADA, leading ten years later to medical and media recognition of the significance of Wolfsohn's teachings and its astounding results. After Wolfsohn's death in 1962, Hart continues both his own and the group's work of extending vocal range, singing, and personal development, while adding that of acting. In 1969 Hart emerges as a powerful, memorable, yet disturbing performer of works written for his voice by three contemporary composers, including 8 Songs for a Mad King, the founding work of music theatre. In 1969 the group also performs publicly for the first time, at a theatre festival in France. This 3rd edition retains all chapters from the 2nd, but with new front and back material, including reflections on the central role of several of C.J. Jung's concepts for Wolfsohn, Hart, and Roy Hart Theatre. Among others the notions of individuation, archetypes and opposites, came to be pivotal in their approach to voice. This book is essential for anyone interested in the expressive capacities of the human voice today and is also an inspiring book about creativity and self-realisation. Noah Pikes' narrative draws on his personal experiences, combined with his rigorously researched origins of Roy Hart Theatre. The inclusion of a greatly increased range of high-quality photos makes this 3rd edition particularly striking.

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9783952483503

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Reviews

Noah Pikes has written the first book on an iconoclastic band of experimental singers who live together in southern France and practice techniques that expand the range of the human voice... It is theatre, it is sex, it is music; it was a wild place to be, and Pikes describes it with a probing seriousness. Parabola Quarterly Dark Voices is a major document for voice practitioners. The influence of Wolfsohn and Hart on voice teaching, theatre, and vocal performance has been felt during the last 25 years... Noah Pikes has assembled a marvellous tapestry of documents, memories, and reflections to creat a story which does immense service to the achievments of these men and the legacy they have left us. David Carey Senior Lecturer, Central School of Speech and Drama, London Enthralling, absorbing, educative, and readable. I begrudged having to this book down as I was completely drawn intoe the excitement, pain, and soul of the drama. Read it and perhaps, you too will be inspired to find your voice as Wolfsohn, Hart, and Pikes have done. Judi Smith vocalist, Brighton Peter Brook has said 'The voice is like a mountain with many caves; go into all the different caves there are.' No group of performers has done this more consistently than Roy Hart Theatre which, over several decades, has devoted itself to the exploration of the human voice both in theatre and as a therapeutic tool. Noah Pikes, himself trained by Roy Hart, here tells for the first time the remarkable story of this unique group. James Roose-Evans award-winning theatre director, author of Experimental Theatre The Roy Hart Theatre was the most interesting single place in the theatre world for a while back in the 1970s--the place where any actor with brains and/or a voice (I mean a real voice) had to be--especially after its charismatic founder died so tragically and the whole company had to learn all over again what theatre is all about. They did, and DARK VOICES tells their story superbly. It's a real page-turner. Charles Boer Professor Emeritus, The University of Connecticut, USA

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