Shakespeare - Brum

[Whickerman]

Given Stratford's location (relatively) near Birmingham, shouldn't shakespearian thesps use a Brummie accent to be authentic?

"Rowmeow, Rowmeow, where fore art thou ya bastad?"

[China Doll]

I can't remember where or when I read/heard this (obviously, it is me afterall) but apparently the closest accent to how we might have spoken during Shakespeare's time is actually the auzzie landers accent.

To my little brain that does make a sort of sense (in my head, if we shipped our convicts off then the language patterns and sounds would have developed differently surely?) but how true it is I don't know. I have been known to be a triffle on the gullible side!

[Quizmonster]

Click here, read and click on the blue links at the bottom of the page for information on Shakespearean pronunciation.

[vehelpfulguy]

But almost all of Shakespeare's plays were written when he was living in London.

Anyway, what does it matter where Shakespeare came from, surely it is where the play is SET that is important, not where any the playwright lived.

Also dont confuse "Brummie" accent with "Black Country", the broad accent called "Brummie" actually comes more from the north west of the area, in the Black Country, outside of Birmingham.

If you went to the centre of Birmingham I bet you wouldn't hear one example of the "brummie" accent.

[Quizmonster]

I live in the south of England, Vehelpfulguy, and I know several Glaswegians who have lived here literally for decades but still sound as if they were speaking to me on Sauchiehaul Street! Perhaps the Bard retained his Warwickshire accent in a similar fashion. We just don't know what he sounded like.
Re the setting of the plays, lots of them were set in Italy, so presumably the characters shouldn't have been speaking English at all!
Below is an attempt by Andrew Gurr of Reading University to reproduce Antony's famous speech from Julius Caesar in a readable version, as he imagines Shakespeare might have spoken it.

"Frinds, Roomuns, **********, lend me yurr eerrs.
Oy coom too berry Sayzurr, nut too preyze im.
Thee eevul that men doo livz aafturr theym,
The gewd iz awft inturrid with thyr boonz.
Soo et ut bee with Sayzurr. The nerbl Brootus
Eth toowld yu Sayzurr wuz ambishius.
If it ware soo, it wuz a greevus fawlt,
Und greevusly hath Sayzurr arnsserrd it.
Heerr, undr leeve uv Brootus un the rest
-- Fur Brootus iz un onawrubl mun --
Soo aar thay ol, ol onawrubl men --
Cum Oy too speek in Sayzurrs fyoonurrul.
Hee wuz mahy frind, faythful un djust too mee,
But Brootuz sez hee wuz ambishius,
Un Brootus iz un onawrubl mun."

Doesn't sound too Brummie to me, but who knows?

[Quizmonster]

Oh dear! 'Countrymen' was spelt with a double-'o'!

[ellarella]

You will find that on visiting Stratford there are few and far between Birmingham Accents. Considering that Stratford is pretty much in between Oxford and Birmingham it wouldn't suprise me that good old Shakey had a bbc newsreader accent yarr? He will have cast the 'players' appropriately I recon - and he may well have been satisfied with the odd black country Juliet. In truth though, I don't believe he would have accepted the play title 'Romeo & Julez'

[ann_h]

We shouldnt forget how different the area was then. Stratford is 40 miles from Brum, and the land inbetween was mud fields - 10 miles was as far as most would travel. The entire poplation of Nuneaton was around 200 adults
In fact Bham city centre was cherry orchards until 1760 or later, the city didnt actually exist in the sense we now know it

So accents would have been even more isolated than they are now.

[echokilo]

Ridiculous .... Stratford is about as close to Birmingham as Stoke is - and they are not Brummies as you put it. And the comment here that Brummie accounts come from the North West area above Birmingham is ridicuous also - this would be a Black Country accent!! A Brummie accent comes from Birmingham - and anyone familiar with this City will be able to tell you that it's possible to tell areas of a Birmingham accent right down to the suburb they belong to as there is so much variation. Shakepeare would have had neither a Brummie or Black Country accent as Stratford is in WARWICKSHIRE, and anyway most of his plays were written in LONDON..... and set in various locations inclusing Scotland, France, Italy .... so the actors accents would have relfected this, as does the dialogue at times. BRUMMIE Shakespeare...... what a strange notion!! Absolutely nothing wrong with Brummie accents, but why assume Stratford is in / near Birmingham - wrong county ... GET A MAP