Dear Everyone,

Here in Malerargues the season has got off to a brilliant start with Pantheatre’s Myth and Theatre festival with LUCK as the chosen theme for this year’s event ! That should bring us good fortune… The summer workshops are filling up and some are already full. Others still have places available and you can look at the link here. We are also pleased to tell you that the performance programme is even more rich and varied than ever, thanks to the energy of this CAIRH’s Arts Committee. Later on in this newsletter you can read an interview with Viviane Gay, member of ArtCom.

You will see that some new contents have been added to our internet website , but only for our English speaking readers alas: ‘Vocal traditions: the Roy Hart tradition’ is an article written by Kevin Crawford and Noah Pikes, previously published in the review of the ‘Voice and Speech Teachers Association’ (VASTA). In ‘Ways to the voice’ you can read extracts from a work of Ralf Peters , originally published in German (‘Wege zur Stimme’).

You will also find in this newsletter an insert in English about the re editing and addition of text to the work ‘Dark Voices The Genesis of Roy Hart Theatre’ by Noah Pikes. This book describes the origins of the Roy Hart Theatre’s voice work and how this very unique theatre company was born out of 50 years of research and engagement on the part of Alfred Wolfsohn and Roy Hart. The previous edition was out of print. This new edition is enriched with 20 pages of text and some 70 additional historical photos, which go back more than 60 years. More informations is given at the end of this newsltter if you wish to buy the book.

We would like to thank Ian Magilton who valiantly oversaw the publication of several previous newsletters and is now changing course. He would like you to jump aboard the Magic Flute this summer. You will find out more when you read the interview with Viviane. Enjoy reading and looking forward to the next time !

Maryline Guitton, temporary editor of the CAIRH’s Newsletter.

Singer and actor, Viviane Gay lives in Malérargues. An associate member of the CAIRH she was elected onto the Conseil d’Administration in 2017. Together with Véronique Taconet and Christiane Hommelsheim she is responsible for the Centre’s ArtCom (Arts Committee) which programmes the performances at Malérargues. This summer offers a particularly rich crop of productions …

Viviane, could you explain what the ArtCom does?
We’ve put in place 2 different types of performances: there are the ‘Ticket Office’ shows for which audiences pay, and there are the ‘Attention travaux!’ (translation: ‘Careful! work in progress’) offerings which can be seen free of charge. These latter may have grown out of artistic residencies, or could be work in development which students wish to share with fellow students. For the summer season of 2019 we have planned 8 paying events over 10 performances, and 10 ‘Attention travaux!’ evenings, comprising 5 different shows some of which will be performed several times. We’re aiming to have one ‘Ticket’ show, and one ‘Attention travaux!’ show per week during the summer – though this may vary. The program can be found on line on the CAIRH site https://roy-hart-theatre.com/artistic-projects/

What has been planned for this summer?
Most productions are by CAIRH members, though we are beginning to welcome other performers. At the end of July the internationally renowned New York-based violinist Mario Forte (who was actually born just 20 minutes from Malérargues in Saint-Christol-Les-Alès), will be performing with the North Sea String Quartet from Holland. And last June the superb Brazilian singer Fabiana Cozza gave a concert during the Pantheatre Festival. This was a CAIRH/Panthéâtre co-production. We are also supporting a project inspired by Mozart’s Magic Flute, directed by Ian Magilton, with musical arrangements by Saso Vollmaier. Performers will include founding members Kaya Anderson and Ivan Midderigh, as well as other Malérargues residents and CAIRH members. Their first ‘Attention travaux!’ performances will be on 5 & 6 July, and on 3 August.

What’s new in 2019?
We want to support the blossoming of artistic work at Malérargues, and at the same time bring this work to the attention of the wider public. So we are developing our communication & connections with local people beyond Malérargues who do not necessarily know what’s happening at the CAIRH. We want to build links with the local area, including word of mouth publicity. To this end we’ve designed a poster to give us a visual identity, and we’ve brought together a team of local volunteers to leaflet near-by towns and villages – especially on market days!: Saint-Jean du Gard, Anduze, Lasalle, Sauve, Saint-Hippolyte du Fort … These volunteers are all local artists who have had some connection with Roy Hart work, often via a weekly workshop I set up when I first came here in 2016.

This is the only book that tells the stories of the origins of Roy Hart voice work, soon available again in a new edition. It includes both biographical and autobiographical material dating back to the mid 1930’s and tells how a unique theatre company was born of fifty years of vocal research and the dedication of Alfred Wolfsohn and Roy Hart. It also contains more than 100 photos covering 45 pages.

The first edition of ‘DARK VOICES The Genesis of Roy Hart Theatre’ was published in the USA by Spring Journal Books in 1999, whose director was James Hillman, the founder of Archetypal Psychology. Here are reviews from three of its readers.

“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 and Noah Pikes has assembled a marvellous tapestry of documents, memories, and reflections to create a story which does immense service to the achievements of these men and the legacy they have left us.” . David Carey Senior Lecturer, Central School of Speech and Drama, London

“The Roy Hart Theatre was the most interesting single place in the theatre world back in the 1970s, the place where any actor with brains and/or a voice (I mean a “real” voice) had to be, and Dark Voices tells their story superbly.” Charles Boer Professor Emeritus, The University of Connecticut, USA

“Enthralling, absorbing, educative, and readable. I was completely drawn into 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, UK

A revised 2004 edition has been out of print for several years. Given the need by the increasing numbers of students of Roy Hart voice work to know about its origins I decided to republish it. The 6 chapters and Appendix are as in the previous edition – and there are 20 pages of new writing and many more photos.
Noah Pikes