The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 14.0528  Tuesday, 18 March 2003

From:           Sean Lawrence <
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Date:           Monday, 17 Mar 2003 14:40:20 -0400
Subject: 14.0506 Re: Shaw on Actors' Accents
Comment:        Re: SHK 14.0506 Re: Shaw on Actors' Accents

Michael Shurgot suggests that

>This whole "bit" about accents and high culture and King Lear is
>amusing, but at times seems irrelevant. Why would the Oregon Shakespeare
>Festival or Chicago Shakespeare Company or the NY Shakespeare Festival
>need high sounding British accents to convince their spectators to take
>seriously a production of Lear? Lear n'er spoke RP, now did he? Should
>we check the vocal patterns of patrons buying tickets at an American
>production of Lear just to be sure that they are sufficiently high class
>and "cultured" before they can enter the theatre? Since when is one's
>speaking patterns a sign of culture?

It isn't, of course, any more than subtitles are a sign of a good
movie.  But subtitled films tend to be seen in different cinemas and
discussed a bit more earnestly than other films.

Cheers,
Sean.

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