"Shakespeare Produced in the Original Pronunciation" by Scott Cox

This article appeared in the November 2010 issue of KC Stage

Theatre history is in the making at the University Kansas. The Crafton-Preyer stage is the home for Shakespeare’s classic A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Nov 11-21. The historical twist? Under the guidance of world-renowned linguist David Crystal and dialect specialist Paul Meier, the production will be presented entirely in the original pronunciation - in other words, English as it was spoken in Shakespeare’s day. In addition to staged performances, the cast is working on a radio play version of the show. This will give a wide range of audiences and performers alike the rare opportunity to experience Shakespeare’s works as the Elizabethans did, to travel back in time as it were and hear his words as they were spoken four hundred years ago. Midsummer was the first full-length production of Shakespeare in America produced in the original pronunciation and only the third time this has been attempted worldwide. The previous two productions - Romeo and Juliet and Troilus and Cressida - also under the tutelage of the Wales-based Crystal, were performed at London’s Old Globe Theatre in 2004 and 2005.

The “original pronunciation” dialect is, in Meier’s words, “down-to-earth.” In fact, the accent is more akin to American English than to the Received Pronunciation employed in most modern productions of Shakespeare’s works. There are a lot of earthy /r/ sounds and certain pronunciations which recall the Canadians, New Englanders, and even the American South. There are echoes of many Anglophone dialects throughout. At times you think it sounds Irish, Welsh, Scottish, even like pirate English, but in spite of these resonances it sounds like none of the above. It is foreign and familiar all at once.

A recurring question is, “How do you know this is how people spoke way back then?” Crystal’s book Pronouncing Shakespeare tells the whole tale, but I will give you the gist for easy reference. Based on rhymes and puns which no longer work in modern English, idiosyncratic spellings in the First Folio and Quarto and the contributions of linguists, orthoepists, and other pronunciation specialists, the dialect has been pieced together. Crystal spent ten days in residence in Lawrence, conducting a series of lectures and workshops on original pronunciation and other linguistic issues. He and his wife Hilary began their stay in town with a fascinating demonstration of Shakespearean original pronunciation.

Crystal coached the twenty-two actor cast over the course of his residency and fine tuned their pronunciations via Skype and believes that actors and audiences who become familiar with original pronunciation will never want to go back to modern pronunciation. The pleasure of the rhyme scheme is restored to many of Shakespeare’s great speeches: a couplet with lines ending in “tongue” and “song,” respectively, rhymes once again in original pronunciation. The same goes for “good” and “blood.” Some of the bard’s bawdier jokes have been restored to their original sense as well. With the original pronunciation of the common word “hour” sounding more like “or,” which is also the pronunciation for the word “whore,” you can imagine the fun to be had.

As a Kansas City-based actor and a doctoral student at the University of Kansas playing Nick Bottom in this production this was an experience like none I’ve ever had. The original pronunciation brings Shakespeare’s passion and comedy to vivid life in a way that modern English simply cannot do.