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RSC head of voice: “I want actors to use their own accents”

thestage.co.uk

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Re: RSC head of voice: “I want actors to use their own accents”

#11

Post by kitd »

ggm wrote: post #3
sremani wrote: post #2

One of the under the radar movies I watched lately was Death of Stalin, and true beauty of this dark comedy was the simple fact that none of the actors tried to speak English in a Russian accent and on top of it, there is a mix of British and American accent depending on the actor. This made the movie truly enjoyable and free from pretense.

I enjoyed this movie too, but bear in mind many people hated it, because of how it portrayed what it portrayed: not the accents mind you, the lack of moral judgement about the (semi true) scenes. Lots of literature talks about the range of accents in the russian empire and CCCP. So, at one level having a mix of accents for the different characters exposed a real underlying complexity of what it is, to be a modern (19…

I learned Russian briefly. Our teacher told us that if we went to Russia and spoke Russian with a typical English accent, most people would not be able to place it, but would assume we came from a remote area they hadn't encountered before. Iirc English accents can pass as something from one of the Baltic states.

Re: RSC head of voice: “I want actors to use their own accents”

#13

Post by Waterluvian »

sremani wrote: post #2

One of the under the radar movies I watched lately was Death of Stalin, and true beauty of this dark comedy was the simple fact that none of the actors tried to speak English in a Russian accent and on top of it, there is a mix of British and American accent depending on the actor. This made the movie truly enjoyable and free from pretense.

Stalin having a cockney accent was just fantastic.

Re: RSC head of voice: “I want actors to use their own accents”

#14

Post by growlist »

The BBC et al are pushing this regional accents trend also, and I could manage (e.g.) Stacey Dooley's grating estuary English but for the fact she is apparently incapable of coming up with a single thought that isn't utterly anodyne and predictable. Must the two go together? Contrast her with Maggie Aderin-Pocock from The Sky at Night which I'll be settling down to watch later; the latter happens to tick all the right virtue signalling boxes, but also importantly has a massive brain and is accomplished, deeply knowledgable and interesting to watch. More presenters like the latter please.

Re: RSC head of voice: “I want actors to use their own accents”

#15

Post by leephillips »

notzuck wrote: post #6
iuwhagtr wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am happy about this happening because the Australian and British accents are unintelligible sometimes.

I feel the same about American accents. Sometimes they talk so fast, fail to annunciate and it sounds like they have something in their mouths. I'm a Brit living in Australia.

I have the same problem with many American movie actors, and I'm an American. Watch a movie from the 1940s. There was a standard of enunciation that seems to have disappeared. But there are plenty of exceptions, actors who take that part of their craft seriously: James Spader for example. Every word of every whisper is easily understood.

Re: RSC head of voice: “I want actors to use their own accents”

#16

Post by alimw »

growlist wrote: post #14

The BBC et al are pushing this regional accents trend also, and I could manage (e.g.) Stacey Dooley's grating estuary English but for the fact she is apparently incapable of coming up with a single thought that isn't utterly anodyne and predictable. Must the two go together? Contrast her with Maggie Aderin-Pocock from The Sky at Night which I'll be settling down to watch later; the latter happens to tick all the righ…

It's amazing that to replace Patrick Moore they found a black female version of Patrick Moore :)

Re: RSC head of voice: “I want actors to use their own accents”

#17

Post by ppod »

growlist wrote: post #14

The BBC et al are pushing this regional accents trend also, and I could manage (e.g.) Stacey Dooley's grating estuary English but for the fact she is apparently incapable of coming up with a single thought that isn't utterly anodyne and predictable. Must the two go together? Contrast her with Maggie Aderin-Pocock from The Sky at Night which I'll be settling down to watch later; the latter happens to tick all the righ…

Stacey Dooley is like Louis Theroux. You put a bumbling nonthreatening type in there and nobody really suspects them or pushes back against them; you see people in the situation with their guard down, you don't necessarily need insights from the presenter.

Re: RSC head of voice: “I want actors to use their own accents”

#19

Post by growlist »

ppod wrote: post #17
growlist wrote: post #14

The BBC et al are pushing this regional accents trend also, and I could manage (e.g.) Stacey Dooley's grating estuary English but for the fact she is apparently incapable of coming up with a single thought that isn't utterly anodyne and predictable. Must the two go together? Contrast her with Maggie Aderin-Pocock from The Sky at Night which I'll be settling down to watch later; the latter happens to tick all the righ…

Stacey Dooley is like Louis Theroux. You put a bumbling nonthreatening type in there and nobody really suspects them or pushes back against them; you see people in the situation with their guard down, you don't necessarily need insights from the presenter.

Not sure that comparison works very well at all!

> you don't necessarily need insights from the presenter

LT's measured style included subtle but incisive insights is key to his appeal as a broadcaster, whereas SD's style is virtually nonexistent, moronic, execrable..

Re: RSC head of voice: “I want actors to use their own accents”

#20

Post by kibwen »

claydavisss wrote: post #18
tyingq wrote: post #10

"Hunt for Red October" does this. Everyone uses their own voice on the Russian sub.

I love the way that movie treats this...so much better than speaking English with a Russian accent which makes no sense at all.

Thirded. IMO movies/shows for English-speaking should either use the native language of their setting accompanied by subtitles, or just speak English in whatever disparate accent the actors normally have. So many productions are diminished by Americans doing poor British accents, British doing poor American accents, both of these poorly imitating their own country's other regional dialects, etc. Though sadly at this point I don't think we'll ever break free of the "everyone in generic fantasy settings must speak in a modern British accent" trope...
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