Thursday, November 10, 2005

A Question

A cast member has decided to ask a question of the Blogger and of course it is Edward de Vere himself Eric:

Mr McCormick,

I have some questions about the play:

Why does most of the cast speak with an English accent when none of the cast members are English?

Have the various characters you play (so well) ever met each other? If they have, do they like each other? If not, why not? Do they know all the lines of your other characters, so that if one of your characters gets sick the other one can play the part?

I wonder about these things and would appreciate your response. Now.

Thanks
Eric Singdahlsen


Eric,

Where to begin. First off I am glad to see the medication has finally kicked in. It is great to see you are no longer writing in all caps and doubling your puncuation marks..

With regards to your question about the accents in the play. In college there was a theatre major who used to ponce around doing a fake British accent. It was his claim that at the age of 21 he had done so much Shakespeare that he only spoke with an accent now because he forgot what his own voice sounded like. I have only ever punched two men in my adult life and you can now guess who one of them was. The most honest answer I can give is that British accents are funny, Americans are funny, therefore hearing Americans using British accents is doubly funny.

Have you ever seen that episode of Dr. Who where the Doctor travels into the future and he accidentally has a stow away who leaves the ship and meets his future self. Because of the speed at which some of the costume changes occur during The Beard of Avon, I have actually seen some of the actors meet themselves as they were coming off stage getting ready to do their next scene. Lord Burleigh and John Heminge have never met but here is what a meeting might sound like:

Burleigh: Excuse me you handsome fellow have you seen my PEZ dispenser?

Heminge: Sorry I haven't. I would give you some of mine but I just ate the last of it in the last scene change. By the way great hair!!


So as you can see they would very much get along. And while I am sure Heminge could in a pinch take over for Burleigh, Burleigh hasn't bothered to learn Heminge's lines and it would be quite the cock-up.

Thanks Eric,

Scott

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

You're so kind to look after my health. I take each day as it comes, and blissfully look forward to spending another day perched outside your window.

I am most pleased by your prompt and (what I can only imagine is an) accurate response. I see your point about the accents being doubly funny. In fact, I was "doubled" over with laughter once you illuminated me to the humor. Your impromptu dialogue was great, and I liked your use of the term "cock-up." You created sort of a mock-up cock-up, didn't you? What's more, if I were in prison (again), it would be a mock-up cock-up in lock-up. And if I were incarcerated on the second or third level, it would be a walk-up mock-up cock-up in lock-up.

EdeO

DCepticon said...

I am just laughing vvery hard right now.
Thanks