Accent Workshop – Irish and London

Teacher: Ben Furey
Saturday & Sunday, 12:00 pm – 4:00 pm
March 3 & 4
Fee: $160
Location: NOLA Rehearsal Studios, 244 West 54th Street, 11th Floor

In this workshop, you will be introduced to two of the most commonly asked for non-American accents of English, an Irish accent and a London accent.  The Irish accent will be middle class Dublin and is suitable for any play or audition where the accent is not indicated as being from a specific area of Ireland.  It is a good reference point from which to move to other Irish accents.  The London accent (sometimes referred to as Cockney or Estuary) is one that can have an almost infinite variety from light to strong.  The one we will learn will be one that can be used for most plays and auditions.

Each accent will be put into a monologue written to be spoken in that accent.  If you wish to choose a text for yourself, I suggest the following authors:

For Irish, look at writers like Beckett, Sean O’Casey, Hugh Leonard, and Conor McPherson.  If you have a favorite Brian Friel piece, while most of his work is set in NW Ireland, we can make it work.  I suggest not using Martin McDonagh or Synge’s Playboy of the Western World as the dialect of the plays doesn’t fit the work we will be doing.

For London, look at writers such as Joe Orton, John Osborne, or Edward Bond.  There are London characters in many other plays, such as Stoppard’s On the Razzle, or many of the plays of George Bernard Shaw.

I will bring some extra monologues if you can’t find something you like.  You should be familiear with the pieces and be clear on the acting arc within them but they shouldn’t be learned.