Shakespeare in Original Pronunciation

Shakespeare in Original Pronunciation, or simply Original Pronunciation (OP), is a movement dedicated to the examination and subsequent performance of Shakespeare's works in a loose reconstruction of Shakespeare's own Early Modern English phonology (accent), as devised by linguist David Crystal.[1] While scholars in reality tremendously disagree on many specifics of Shakespeare's own accent,[2] Crystal's Original Pronunciation is more intended for theatrical performance onstage, largely aiming to emphasise wordplay and puns that are otherwise lost to the modern ear and to create an accent that does not sound like any one region of the British Isles, while remaining comprehensible to modern listeners.[2]

History of the movement

Background

Shakespeare's lifetime[3] was a time of great linguistic change for the English language.[4] Early Modern English, the English of Shakespeare's day, was undergoing the Great Vowel Shift, which changed the pronunciation of all of English's long vowels as well as some other vowels.[4] Many words of Early Modern English were pronounced differently from today's standard pronunciation in modern British and American English.[4]

Motivations and criticisms

David Crystal wishes to promote performances, approximately, of "Shakespeare as hopefully he would have heard it.... It sounds raw and from the heart, which is very different from the way I think Shakespeare has been performed for the last half century or so".[5]

Crystal is concerned that audiences hearing Shakespeare in modern-day pronunciation often miss noticing rhymes and puns that worked well in Early Modern English.[6]

On the other hand, Laura Lodewyck, Assistant Professor of Theatre at North Central College,[7] comments that "there are limits to the OP enterprise. Some texts, for instance, may be better suited to OP performance than others".[2] Past scholars have warned that Shakespeare's actual accent would be somewhat unintelligible to modern listeners, and reconstructions biased by an intention to approach modern accents are likely to be fairly inaccurate or not fully evidence-based.[8]

History of productions

In 2004, Shakespeare's Globe, in London, produced three performances of Romeo and Juliet in original pronunciation.[9] Spearheaded by linguist David Crystal and play director, Tim Carroll,[10] this was the beginning of contemporary interest in Shakespeare in original pronunciation.[2]

In 2005, the Globe went on to produce six performances of Troilus and Cressida in original pronunciation.[9] Since then, there have been many further productions of Shakespeare in original pronunciation, including A Midsummer Night's Dream in 2010 by the University of Kansas and Twelfth Night in 2012 by the American Theatre of Actors.[2]

In April 2013, Bangor University's ROSTRA performed As You Like It in original pronunciation under the supervision of David Crystal.[11]

Pronunciation examples

Puns

An example of a Shakespearean pun that no longer works in Modern English comes from the prologue of Romeo and Juliet, Act 1, lines 5-6:

From forth the fatal loins of these two foes
A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life

In Modern English, the word "lines" does not carry the possible double meaning of the Early Modern English, in which some dialects pronounced lines and loins the same, as something like [ləɪnz].[6] Thus, Modern English audiences miss the pun.

Another example is the pronunciation of "hour", as in As You Like It:

And so from hour to hour we ripe and ripe.
And then from hour to hour we rot and rot.
And thereby hangs a tale.

In Early Modern English, "hour" could potentially be pronounced [oːɹ], homophonous to "whore"; H-dropping was regularly observed. The change in pronunciation of both words in Modern English means that a sexual joke is possibly missed by a modern audience.[6][12]

Rhymes

An example of a Shakespearean rhyme that no longer works in Modern English comes from A Midsummer Night's Dream, Act 3, Scene II, lines 104-106:

Flower of this purple dye,
Hit with Cupid's archery,
Sink in apple of his eye.[13]

In Modern English pronunciation, the rhyme does not work in all lines, but in Original Pronunciation, all three lines rhyme, ending with [-əɪ].[6]

Reactions

The audience reaction to Shakespeare in Original Pronunciation varies.

Laura Lodewyck in her paper[2] cites a The New Yorker review of the 2005 production of Troilus and Cressida in which the reviewer John Lahr states:

"Soaring Shakespearean lines, such as 'Her hand / In whose comparison all whites are ink,' evaporate like a cough in the theatre... the waves of words produce a mesmerizing static, sort of like listening to poetry underwater."

— John Lahr[14]

Alternatively, David Crystal writes that audience members often connect to the performance through the pronunciation and comments: "We speak like that where we come from."[15] However, as Lodewyck also notes, as a leading expert in that area of study, Crystal has reasons to be biased toward such productions.[2]

Original Pronunciation can also have an effect on the actors involved.

Ben Crystal, a Shakespearean actor and son of David Crystal, comments on the way Shakespeare in original pronunciation affects his body and vocal register:

"It drops your center.... With OP, it comes down towards your stomach and your groin. It changes the way you move. I go from speaking in a very, in a much sort of higher quality of my voice, and I get down more into the gravelly part of my resonance. It has tremendous ramifications, from male to female, old to young, anybody that I've seen use OP, the effect's the same."

— Ben Crystal[6]

Although the beginning of the Globe's foray into Original Pronunciation showed that older actors had more difficulty in embracing it, successful performances eventually occurred.[9]

References

  1. ^ Crystal, David (2016). The Oxford Dictionary of Original Shakespearean Pronunciation. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. pp. ix, xi.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Lodewyck, Laura A. (2013-04-18). ""Look with Thine Ears:" Puns, Wordplay, and Original Pronunciation in Performance". Shakespeare Bulletin. 31 (1): 41–61. doi:10.1353/shb.2013.0017. ISSN 1931-1427. S2CID 191601650.
  3. ^ Crystal, David (2016). The Oxford Dictionary of Original Shakespearean Pronunciation. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. pp. ix.
  4. ^ a b c "The History of English - Early Modern English (c. 1500 - c. 1800)". www.thehistoryofenglish.com. Retrieved 2018-10-02.
  5. ^ "Shakespeare in the rough: Audio collection of Bard's words like you've never heard them before | The Toronto Star". thestar.com. Retrieved 2018-10-02.
  6. ^ a b c d e alevine (2015-02-04). "Pronouncing English as Shakespeare Did". Folger Shakespeare Library. Retrieved 2018-10-02.
  7. ^ "Laura Lodewyck | North Central College". www.northcentralcollege.edu. Retrieved 2018-10-03.
  8. ^ Cercignani, Fausto (1981). Shakespeare's works and Elizabethan pronunciation. Oxford : Clarendon Press ; New York : Oxford University Press. po. vii-viii.
  9. ^ a b c McCrum, Robert (2005-08-21). "RP or OP? That is the question". The Guardian. Retrieved 2018-10-02.
  10. ^ "David Crystal: "In Original Pronunciation, the plays become easier to understand." - Exeunt Magazine". exeuntmagazine.com. Retrieved 2018-10-02.
  11. ^ "Shakespeare's as You Like It (OP) - YouTube". YouTube.
  12. ^ "Shakespeare, William: Elizabethan English pronunciation". Encyclopaedia Britannica.
  13. ^ "No Fear Shakespeare: A Midsummer Night's Dream: Act 3 Scene 2 Page 5". www.sparknotes.com. Retrieved 2018-10-02.
  14. ^ Lahr, John (September 11, 2005). "Talking the Talk". The New Yorker. Retrieved June 3, 2024.{{cite magazine}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  15. ^ Crystal, David (2016). The Oxford Dictionary of Original Shakespearean Pronunciation. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. pp. x.
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