Top ten: Small-screen b!tches

[DaytimeFan]

Oh I wouldn't go so far as to say Received Pronunciation is dead. It's cyclical...for now RADA and the like are encouraging people to use their regional accents, but I think that will change and RP will come back in vogue sometime down the line. It's worth arguing that RP is most appreciated in the USA because it's the *only* British accent they know. As well, the schools might encourage students to use their regional accents, but the studios aren't necessarily hiring like that.

Ultimately, if you're an incoherent mess it doesn't matter if you're from Kensington or Wolverhampton or Birmingham. The accent only helps you so much.

When I took acting classes, eons ago, we also didn't have much training when it came to props. That really bothered me, so I spent a lot of time doing that work myself. By the end of it I was playing Elyot in 'Private Lives' balancing a cigarette, drink, book and whatever else I could carry with aplomb. It can be learned to a point, but you either have it or you don't and Joan Collins has it in spades.

I think the 'finishing school' style of acting school is superior because it trained actors to work...schools these days train actors to accept unemployment and lobby for government funding.

[Sylph]

That's why death was in inverted commas. Of course it will come back, it has to. I was just saying: it shouldn't have left in the first place.

I'm not really sure, I know a lot of people who know many other accents, yet they still find RP the most stylish and sophisticated...

So, tell us, how did you practice?

[DaytimeFan]

It's about getting very comfortable with holding things, handling them and playing with them. I got especially good at walking past a desk and picking something up smoothly. It sounds a bit ridiculous but in order to do it so that it looks natural you must practice, practice, practice.

It's about playing with objects and learning how to eat properly. Sooooo many actors look like apes when they eat. Eric Braeden, Collins and Lucci are of but a few who can eat on camera.

[SFK]

And the main reason why speech was so emphasized when I trained was for the benefit of the actor, the ability to drop his or her regionalisms to fit believably in the world of a play (Shakespeare in particular). You don't want one actor sounding like he's from Texas, another from Boston, yet another from Mexico when you're doing Henry V. Of course directors take all sorts of liberties with Shakespeare these days, setting Hamlet in Texarkana or on Mars for that matter, but Standard American Speech for the stage has always been key for the classical actor. And RP is still taught at RADA, they wouldn't have a speech unit if it wasn't, but the point is they've changed their tune and they're no longer trying to drill RP into the students' heads and erase their natural speech. TV and film is the reality of our time, sure many graduates will go on to do Shakespeare in rep or whatever, but it doesn't serve the students or the school's reputation to send them out into the world auditioning for Eastenders sounding like Noel Coward.

[Sylph]

But fluency in many accents should be a requirement.

[DaytimeFan]

I don't see how it could be a requirement. Some people are simply not cut out for accents. I don't know how I'm able to do all the ones that I can, I've been able to do them since I was a little kid...acting school is not the military.

[Sylph]

Speech is important. It manifests in strange ways.

If you study speech for years in many drama schools, it must be relevant. Those who made the syllabus and the curriculum know a thing about it, I presume.

[SFK]

Yeah, we definitely did accent work, and as DaytimeFan said, some were better than others at it. And again, it's all about giving the actor a well-stocked tool box. An asian actor will probably never have to use that black South African accent he's being taught, but his ear is receiving invaluable training. He's learning how to break down the subtleties of sound and speech and vocal placement. But on a more practical level, it will really behoove say an olive-skinned actor with dark features to perfect his Middle Eastern, Latin American, Nuyorican, and Italian accents for example.

[SFK]

double post

[Sylph]

Precisely what I was saying. Even though you might never use Brummie or Yorkshire, you can only benefit from pracising. It's like an étude when playing the piano. Or any other instrument.

All goes to technique.