The Wolf in the Voice

A singing voice breaks. Is it the sound of a soprano reaching for the top of their range? A voice growing older? A boy becoming a man? A singer risking too much, or holding back in fear… That’s The Wolf in the Voice.

This intimate new work unveils the connection between music and emotion through personal stories, songs and staging as we examine the intricate dynamics of the human voice. The Wolf in the Voice explores the human experience through the ‘vocal break’ – that fragile, vulnerable, and dangerous spot in a singer’s range that is normally deeply hidden yet also reveals how all people must negotiate fear and doubt as they seek to express themselves. 

The Wolf in the Voice asks performers Neema, Jane and Taurian to negotiate entertaining but hugely demanding arrangements of music from Bellini arias to a wild jazz arrangement of a Gilbert & Sullivan classic; from a Latin madrigal to a not-to-be-missed new version of ‘Bat out of Hell’…with Dave Brubeck’s ‘Blue Rondo’ and the gorgeous musical theatre gem ‘Believe in Yourself’ added to the mix. As they do so, the science of the voice plus their own hilarious and moving stories of vocal emergencies take us deep into the wolf at the heart of all of our voices.

Nightswimming is thrilled to partner with Toronto’s Tarragon Theatre to bring The Wolf in the Voice to the stage in 2025. A huge thank you to everyone at the Tarragon for your fabulous contributions to this project!

Read more about the production here, and you can access the audience resource guide dfor the show here – with lots of background information on the science of the voice, singing, and how singing is connected to our sense of our selves.

Dramaturgy and process

Inspired by our work on Blue Note, Martin and Brian set out to explore two pathways: first, the nuances of how a trio of singers works together by negotiating the complicated and at times vulnerable push/pull of how three people collaborate; second, the vocal break that so often reminds us of the fragility of the human voice, as in adolescence when the voice ‘changes’, even for altos or sopranos. 

How do singers make those extraordinary sounds…and at what cost? With Wolf, we’re seeking ways inside the human voice and its vulnerabilities, and in doing so asking us all to think about the fragile parts of our lives and loves.

Created during a series of in-studio creation sessions and public presentations, our process mined scientific research about the voice, the physical mechanics of singing, and stories about the relationship of singing to fear and doubt. The Wolf in the Voice has also explored a wide range of repertoire as Martin, Brian and collaborators sought ways to invite audiences into the hidden world of singers’ anxieties, and invite them to consider their own vulnerable places.

The Wolf in the Voice is part of a long-term commitment Nightswimming has made to exploring singing and the human voice. Our work on this piece has been inspired by and shaped by our discoveries creating Blue Note, Why We Are Here!, These Are The Songs That I Sing When I’m Sad, Lake Nora Arms and The Nest.

Collaborators

The Wolf in the Voice has benefited from the contributions of many artists during the creation process, especially Kate Hennig, Nathaniel Hanula-James and Gloria Mok, along with Micah Barnes, Leslie Haller, Emma Mackenzie Hillier, Jeff Ho, Megan Johnson, Leora Morris, Michael O’Hara, Myekah Payne, Imali Perera, Brittany Ryan, Rupal Shah, Rachel Steinberg and Jonathan Tan. Plus Mike Payette, Lisa Li, Gerry Egan, Jaxun Maron and the terrific production and marketing teams at Tarragon Theatre.

The Wolf in the Voice received a work-in-progress production featuring Neema, Jane and Thom, presented to a public audience at the Redwood Theatre in Toronto in December 2019.

Nightswimming returned to The Wolf in the Voice after a long pandemic-induced hiatus, in a workshop at Factory Theatre in December 2021. During the workshop, the collaborators discussed how their relationships to music, singing, and their own voices had changed during the pandemic. The collaborators also watched an archival recording of the 2019 workshop production and imagined how The Wolf in the Voice might evolve in future iterations.

A subsequent two week creation process in 2023 brought Taurian into the ensemble as Thom stepped out of a performance role while remaining a key collaborator. New arrangements shaped by this new voice, plus the integration of exciting new material and music were showcased to artists and producers from several Toronto companies and we are very pleased that The Wolf in the Voice will premiere at the Tarragon Theatre as part of its 2024/25 season.

One further creation session in late 2024 explored design elements, including a fantastic ‘floor piano’ that has been central to all of our explorations and now takes on new life as designed by Rebecca Picherack. The premiere run opens at the Tarragon on February 12, 2025.

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The Wolf in the Voice is an experimental theatre/performance piece, devised with three singer/actors. The term “wolf in the voice” was discovered by Brian (in an Icelandic crime novel!) as a description for that vocal ‘break’ between chest voice and head voice, most notable in men, but existing in all vocal instruments. This infamous, mysterious, and contested ‘middle voice’ is an in-between territory, a place of vulnerability and transition. A group of three is the smallest possible ensemble, a vulnerable assemblage of individuals prone to constant social transition and negotiation, a constantly jockeying, an in-between territory. That is the territory of the ‘wolf’.

Martin Julien