A correspondent writes to ask if there have been further developments in Shakespearean original pronunciation (OP) since I last posted on this topic (November 2010). Yes, in a word.
The Kansas U production of Dream was hugely successful, by all accounts, and a DVD of the event will be available later this year. In the meantime, some information about the production can be found at KU Theatre, and Paul Meier's script of the production is also available.
OP figured prominently in the British Library's 'Evolving English' exhibition, with extracts read in OP from Old English, Middle English, and Early Modern English. The opening of Richard III, read by Ben Crystal, can be heard here. Ben is just back from the University of Nevada at Reno, helping to plan an OP Hamlet later this year.
Incidentally, actors who read my blog will be interested to hear news of Ben's second Passion in Practice workshop coming up in May. The video footage of the first one I found breathtaking. Passion in OP one day, maybe.
3 comments:
Listening to podcasts from the Evolving English exhibition inspired me to try and do a little OP reading. It's Fidele (i.e. the Fear No More bit):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWWn6KSBuoQ
Nicely read. But watch out for the following: the vowel of 'hate, rages, ta'en', and so on is more open, more like the quality of French e in 'bête'; words like 'learning' have a more open vowel - it's often spelled 'larnin' in informal dialect representations; no 'sh' sound in words like 'censure', it's 'sj'' make sure the 'a' of 'all' is unrounded; and drop the high quality of the vowel a tad in words like 'see'.
Thanks for the comments! :) (I realised about the 'sh' in censure just after I'd uploaded the clip so it was too late, but I very much appreciate the notes about the vowel qualities)
Post a Comment