Date:  Sat, 7 May 1994 11:06:45 EST

From:  "Nancy C. Elliott" <ELLIOTTN[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]UCS.INDIANA.EDU>

Subject: accent on stage



The only time I ever heard RP referred to as a bad accent:

A few years ago our university opera company gave a performance starring

a British voice professor. Being Mozart, the opera had a few spoken lines

here and there. A local reviewer complained, apparently not knowing that

the singer WAS English. He wrote that the performer 'unfortunately...spoke

his lines in a laughable British accent.' Indeed, as soon as this

British singer had uttered his first spoken lines on stage, I heard

members of the audience giggle. (Perhaps they were associating his speech

with Monty Python...) The other members of the cast sounded 'normal': Indianan.

Nancy Elliott

Indiana University