Shakespearean Theatre

» thes1 - Accent in Shakespeare

I think it is completely wrong that so many people think that the modern day British Dialect is the touchstone to how an actor should sound when performing Shakespeare's plays. Because the English dialect spoken when Shakespeare was writing sounded nothing like todays Brittish "Received Pronunciation". As long as the actors speak with a clarity that is "trippingly on the tongue" and ride the metre that is given to them, an everyday general Canadian dialect is fine.

-- posted by thes1

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» talksh0wh0st - Shakespearian Accent

First of all... The notion that Shakespeare flows better when spoken in a contemporary English accent is complete rubbish. The accent that Shakespeare was writing for, was nothing like the modern English accent that we hear today. The olny reason why this myth won't die is because of the legacy of the great British Shakespearean actors of the 30's and 40's (Olivier, Guilgeud, Laughton, etc.) No one couild touch them. However, as a matter of fact, studies have been done and certain regional Canadian accents are probably closer to what Shakespeare's English would have sounded like. Shakespeare filled his poetry with consonants, guiding the dialogue in a certain direction. The English accent, as we know it, does not actually lend itself to this writing at all. Thre are lots of "r's" strategicly placed in Shakespeare's writing and these were never written to come out sounding like "ah's". Quite the oposite. The "th" sound in words like "thou" would have been prononounced like the "th" sound in the word "thorne", so it is suspected. Voul sounds were also more emphasised as can be seen in the poem "The Passionate Shepherd to his Love." by Christopher Marlow, he rymes the word "love" to words like "move" and "prove". We still pronounce the "oo" sound in "move" and "prove", but to read this poem correctly, "love", would have to be pronounced "loove". Not unlike the Canadian pronunciation of "About". "Aboot". Long story short. If you want to hear Shakespeare more like it was meant to be seen and heard, go to Canada, not England.

-- posted by talksh0wh0st

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