Dark Voices

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.