All About the Accent.

A young college friend of mine recently asked for my help in her final project before graduating at Northern Kentucky University.  She is directing a play and needed help for some of her cast members as they attempted British accents for an Oscar Wilde play An Ideal Husband.

I was happy to help but also a little concerned as I researched the play to find it was written about very aristocratic characters and although I am no Eliza Doolittle I am not either Margaret Thatcher!

We actually had a lot of fun with it.  The first young man I worked with alone, who had to come earlier than the rest of the cast, actually did really well and I thought this would be a breeze.  However at the first run through of the Act I with the rest of the cast was not so encouraging although a few did quite well.  Even Caitie, the director, had to chastise those that didn't even try.

Working with those that needed more help out in the hall was an interesting exercise for myself.  We never really think too much on how we speak so examining it closely and trying to explain the differences was quite a challenge...especially as we were going for an accent far "posher" than mine.

Some of the most telling differences I found were vowel pronunciation in words like "can't" and "horrible".  Also when a r was present as in the characters name "Robert" which an American seems to say using the back of their throat whereas we use our teeth to make the sound.  Making sure that every 't' was pronounced clearly and "d's did not become 't" sounding as in the name "Basildon" that they kept saying "Basilton" seemed also to be a challenge.

As the evening practice wore on they did improve greatly and I may work again with them next week if needed. I look forward to attending the actual performances. I was happy to help Caitie but also enjoyed very much examining how I spoke and how I sound to my American fellows...after all it "aint arf posh" as Eliza would say :)