Madeleine

Madeleine, portrait of a voice teacher

Madeleine Lehning (born 1911) left at the age of seventeen for Geneva, where she met her
future husband, the famous anarchist, philosopher and writer Arthur Lehning. They
joined forces, wrote together, traveled together and defended their ideas for freedom together.
In the early 1950s Madeleine started a life of her own. She studied speech therapy and
developed her own theories as a voice teacher. Taking conceptions from her anarchistic
background, she created a unique approach to sound, space, movement and the voice.

The theatrical world

In 1970, at the request of Jan Kassies, former director of Amsterdam's Theaterschool,
Madeleine Lehning joined the teaching staff of this school. In addition to the drama
department, she taught - remarkably enough - in the mime department as well. Over the
years, she conveyed her spatial vision of the voice to many people in the Dutsch and Flemish
theatrical world. She worked with companies such as Het Rotheater, De Haagse Comedie,
Theater Fact, De Nieuw Amsterdam and Het Kaaitheater. She also worked with actors
and directors such as Rufus Collins, Tom Jansen, Ton Lutz, Franz Marijnen, Wim
Meeuwissen, Gerardjan Rijinders, Paul Röttger and many others.

A strong-willed woman

Madeleine Lehning's work has never before been captured on film or video, partly because
she herself never felt the need to step into the spotlight. Choreographer and filmmaker
Ruth Meyer, however, found Madeleine Lehning's work too important and unique to be lost
to future generations. She portrayed the strong-willed voice teacher, bringing to light her
personality, remarkably past, unusual approach to the voice and her work with those in the
theatrical world.