How to Do Standard English Accents by Jan Haydn Rowles

Author:Jan Haydn Rowles
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: OBERON BOOKS Ltd

Hear It: Track 161.

These recordings of Mrs Patrick Campbell from 1929 and Mr Beerbohm Tree from 1906 are beautiful examples of the old style.

PART TWO

UPPER-CLASS VARIETIES

6

THE VARIETIES

So, if a New Standard English Accent is not ‘Posh’, what is?

In Part Two of the book we introduce you to some varieties of Standard English Accent, all of which come from the upper and upper middle classes.

We cannot possibly cover all the idiosyncracies that are thrown up in life, nor do we aim to. We have taken as our models the characters and types found most often in plays and films through the 20th and 21st centuries, to give you a spectrum of possibilities to choose from. Choose the variety that most suits the role you are playing. After all, if you are playing Hamlet, you may not want to sound like BBC Bertie, or if you are playing Lady Bracknell, you may not want to sound like a Sloane Ranger!

Though some of these varieties may share certain features, we decided to write them in such a way that, for the most part, they can stand alone and you can read each as a separate entity without constant cross-referencing. We have also included some suggestions of people, characters and plays that may be useful as reference points for each variety.

The first variety we describe is Traditional RP. This is a catch-all accent that is quite distinct from a New Standard English Accent, and useful if you want a good basis to distinguish you in terms of class and period. Should you be looking for something more ‘character-ful’ then venture with us as we describe the glories of the Imperial Lords and Ladies, the pragmatism of the Military, Matrons and the Landed Gentry, the hedonistic Debs, Dandies and Bright Young Things, the austerity of the Wartime Wendies and BBC Berties, the triumph of the Sloane Rangers, and as we finally give a nod to the ever inventive New Wave.

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