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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”

#21

Post by Theodores »

iuwhagtr wrote: post #5
yesenadam wrote: post #4

One thing that bugs me is that (guesstimate) 1/3 of Hollywood stars are Australian (or Kiwi), but they always (have to) do US accents in their movies. And about 90% of the time there's actually an Australian character in a US movie/series they get a US actor to play the Australian! And it sounds so very fake, though not to people in the US evidently. Both of these I find hard to watch. It's no better with Brits. I ne…

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

British people can understand American variations, e.g. 'sidewalk', the pronunciation of the last letter in the alphabet and 'candy'. But there are a surprising amount of Americans that simply do not understand the original British English variants, e.g. 'pavement', 'zed', 'sweets'.

This even applies to those few Americans that have passports and travel to the UK. This lack of initiative when it comes to understanding language is possibly due to how American words have to be spelt out and explained. In original British English context is good enough. So a 'bin' will suffice for a receptacle to place your rubbish in, whereas, in America, you have to have a 'waste paper basket'.

This latter point is something that British people do laugh about, e.g.:

Americans Don't Understand English - The Jonathan Ross Show

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wSw3IWRJa0&vl=en-GB

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

#22

Post by wodenokoto »

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.

I just watched the first episode of "Norsemen" on Netflix.

One of the best parts of that show is the thick Norwegian accent of all the Vikings.

So on one hand it follows the argument that actors should use their own accent (since all actors are Norwegian) on the other hand, you can't put a German or British actor on the Viking cast and ask them to use their own accent without ruining the show.

My point is, the accent can make sense.

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

#23

Post by Mediterraneo10 »

kitd wrote: post #11
ggm wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Your teacher was either pulling your leg or you simply misunderstood the point they were trying to make. Russians can immediately identify a native English speaker – it is one of the most placeable accents for Russians thanks to decades of depictions of Americans and Brits in the context of Cold War-era entertainment. Furthermore, many Russian speakers can determine from a English speaker’s accent in Russian whether that English speaker is from the USA or the UK.

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

#24

Post by kitd »

Mediterraneo10 wrote: post #23
kitd wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Your teacher was either pulling your leg or you simply misunderstood the point they were trying to make. Russians can immediately identify a native English speaker – it is one of the most placeable accents for Russians thanks to decades of depictions of Americans and Brits in the context of Cold War-era entertainment. Furthermore, many Russian speakers can determine from a English speaker’s accent in Russian whether…

You may well be right. I'm not qualified to say.
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