 | | © Crown copyright. All rights reserved. BBC licence number 100019855, 2004. |
When BBC Radio York's Neil Foster met a group of budding actors from the Stagecoach Youth Theatre group in York, he was keen to know how their accents might affect their chances of getting into their chosen career. Drama students Nick and Lee said they thought that some Southern drama schools favour people with a Northern accent, while Sarah, the only member of the group who went to a public school, is worried that her RP accent may count against her.  Listen to Nick, Lee, Stacy and Sarah or read a transcript
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All three live in York and are involved with the Stagecoach Youth Theatre group, but they don't all go to the same college. Transcript Lee: I've heard from sum of my teachers at college that sum drama schools like t'have a variety of different accents, like there's some drama schools in london that really like th'Yorkshire accent. Nick: Yeh, Italia Conti, tha ma sister's just gone't, the' love Northerners, y'know they're pullin them in from all'over the place... it's tha Northerners who get the most agents in the end. Lee: But then again, y'have t'be yourself Nick: Well, yeh Lee: If yer doin a different accent an y'slip out of it, they're gonna think yer faking it... y'need t'be yerself fa any audition y'go to. So it's bad if yer puttin on a different accent, an then they find out." Stacy: Cos thas what meks you, y'know, they want t'hire you, not sumbody else Lee: Cos theve got to work on yer to do it, an it's yer job t'learn... s'I'm, sure thas the bes' part of tryin t'accomplish sumthing like that is learning... how to adjust yer voice to a differen settin... an stuff Stacy: It's like I wen t'an open day an sumbody put they hand up an sed "Well, blah, blah, blah about all this money an fees" an he talked really posh. He stood... er... this guy, this lecturer, stood up an said "Look, we want y'ter be yerself, y'know. We don' care how much money yer've got, we don' care what school yer've come from, we want yer t'be yerself." Sarah: I just, erm, I just, errr, worry about some universities having taken a slightly... cos I don't want to do a drama school, I want to do drama at university and... er... some... I know that now, now my good education will be a down factor in that, so, and people can pick that up form my accent."
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