Roy Hart (Routledge Performance Practitioners)

Roy Hart’s revolutionary work on the human voice through extended vocal technique and the Wolfsohn-Hart tradition has influenced several generations of practitioners. Hart’s outstanding contribution to vocal research, practice and performance stretched over 20 years until his untimely death in 1975, and his vocal training produced performers with extraordinary and highly expressive vocal ranges. He founded a theatre company, Roy Hart Theatre, that brought his ideas to realisation in groundbreaking works. His influence, through his own use of the voice for theatre and music and its embodiment in his company, was widespread, attracting the interest of directors such as Peter Brook, Jerzy Grotowski and Jean-Louis Barrault.

This book combines:

• a detailed biography giving the social and artistic context of Hart’s work and that of the early Roy Hart Theatre
• an exploration of Hart’s own writings on his work, combined with a review of articles by his wife Dorothy Hart and in-depth interviews
• a stylistic analysis of his key works, including The Bacchae, and, L'Economiste and Biodrame, and their critical reception
• pathways into some of the practical exercises devised by close collaborators of Roy Hart and practitioners of the Roy Hart Theatre Tradition.

As a first step towards critical understanding, and as an initial exploration before going on to further, primary research, Routledge Performance Practitioners offer unbeatable value for today’s student.

Kevin Crawford was a founding member of the Roy Hart Theatre and much of this book is informed by his memories of his performing life with the company, and his professional work afterwards as a theatre and voice practitioner working in France, Italy, Ireland, England and elsewhere.

Bernadette Sweeney has a PhD in theatre from Trinity College Dublin and is Professor of Theatre and Performance Studies and head of Acting at the University of Montana School of Theatre and Dance. She is lucky to have been able to train with Kevin in various workshops in Ireland and France over a period of years, and also with other Roy Hart and Pantheatre company members.