HISTORY
Malérargues, 1974 (Photo: Ivan Midderigh)
The spirit of resilience
Malérargues is a private estate located in the Cévennes hills of Occitanie in southern France. Following the arrival of the Roy Hart Theatre company in 1974, Malérargues became a place of residence and a sheltered work environment for vocal exploration in pursuit of a deeper understanding of life and art. Later, in 1992, the Roy Hart Theatre Association became the Roy Hart International Artistic Centre and in 2024 the Roy Hart Voice Centre.
The Château de Malérargues, like the Cévennes region, is renowned for its spirit of independence. The Cévennes were at the heart of Camisard resistance to religious repression and persecution under Louis XIV. On the façade of the château, a plaque honours the memory of Robert Francisque, a local member of the French Resistance during the Second World War, who was involved in numerous sabotage operations and was shot by the Nazis.
We love this vibrant place, alive with stories, history, and human dreams. This passion is at the heart of the Malérargues Endowment Fund. Our voice work echoes Malérargues’ historical spirit of independence.
Alfred Wolfsohn, London (Photographer unknown)
Alfred Wolfsohn (1896-1962), a German Jew and veteran of World War I, emerged from the war a broken man, and developed the body of work he called “Human Voice” as an act of resilience. He fled Nazi Germany and settled in London where Roy Hart met him in 1947. The young South African actor abandoned a promising career in commercial theatre to study with Wolfsohn. Following Wolfsohn’s death in 1962, Roy Hart continued this research. By the late 1960s, he was producing avant-garde plays in London with his company.
The Roy Hart Theatre (Photo: Ivan Midderigh)
Between 1974 and 1975, all forty-nine members of the Roy Hart Theatre moved from London to Malérargues. Despite precarious living conditions, they restored the buildings whilst also creating the production “L’Économiste”. In May 1975, during a tour of the performance, Roy Hart, Dorothy Hart, and Vivienne Young died in a car accident. Their deaths were an immense human and artistic loss, with heavy financial repercussions. The artists of the Roy Hart Theatre considered giving up and returning to London.
They decided to resist, to remain in Malérargues, and to pursue the dream.
Malérargues today (Photo: David Goldsworthy)
Malérargues was once a hamlet in ruins. It has now become a thriving hub for international research, teaching, and creation, welcoming students, researchers, and artists from all over the world to discover unique approaches to the voice that can be applied as much in everyday life as in the performing arts.
Exploration of the human voice without boundaries is rooted in the deep connection between a person's voice and their body, breath, imagination and psyche, acknowledging and celebrating the unique multiplicity of every voice.
This revolutionary approach is now recognized worldwide and is taught in numerous universities and artistic companies.
Today, the Malérargues Endowment Fund seeks to preserve the Malérargues estate as a protected site where people can work on the embodied voice, imagination and soul.
Through patronage, the Malérargues Endowment Fund will allow for the financing of projects of general interest, notably cultural activities, whilst preserving the use of the Malérargues estate for activities related to the research, exploration, and training of the human voice without boundaries.
Currently, the Société Civile Immobilière Fondation de Malérargues is the owner of the Malérargues estate and is administered by managers appointed by its shareholders. The Roy Hart Voice Centre association is a tenant of this SCI. The association runs an important educational and cultural programme, manages the Malérargues theatre and studios, and provides accommodation for visiting artists, researchers and students. The Roy Hart Voice Centre association is an important element of the Malérargues ecosystem, which also includes other historical associations such as Pantheatre and Dia Pason and recent collaborative projects such as the Tumultes festival (2022 — 2024), the productions of Zauber and Acis and Galatea by Compagnie Imagi_nation, and the 2024 Jubilee celebrations.
What we see today in Malérargues is the fruit of more than a century of research, study and practice of the voice. The Malérargues Endowment Fund was established to assume ownership of the estate thereby divesting it of private interests, and to preserve and pass on this rich cultural heritage for future generations.
By making a donation, you are participating in this project, this vision, this hope.
“... when I speak of singing I do not see it only as an artistic exercise but as a possibility and a means to know oneself and to transform this knowledge into conscious life.”