Campbell, P., Pikes, M., 2025.

Voice Training: The Wolfsohn-Hart Approach

At eighteen, Alfred Wolfsohn - born in Germany into a middle-class Jewish family of Russian ancestry - was conscripted to fight in the First World War. In 1917, he served as a stretcher-bearer in the trenches during the Second Battle of Arras, when British troops advanced on German infantry, culminating in a bloody stalemate. 125,000 German troops were either wounded or killed during the fighting and Wolfsohn traumatically witnessed the death-throes of a young comrade, who cried out to him for help. Petrified, the young Wolfsohn crawled through the mud, ignoring the young man's pleas before being wounded himself. He was later found alive, buried in a pile of corpses. He was hospitalised for tuberculosis and shell shock and spent time in a sanatorium. Wolfsohn eventually went on to establish a ground-breaking approach to extended vocal practice and discovery, which was further developed by his pupil, Roy Hart (1926-1975), alongside the members of the Roy Hart Theatre. Our chapter takes its cue from this milestone in Wolfsohn's story to discuss some key aspects of vocal training for actors.