Arts & Culture

Recently, we had an actress ask a question about learning a Geordie accent. Not being familiar with that one, I asked her some questions and it came out that she was acting in the Canadian premier of The Pitmen Painters  by Lee Hall (author of Billy Elliot) at Theatre Aquarius in Hamilton.  The play is set in the north east of England, near Newcastle upon Tyne, and focuses on a group of miners in the 1930s and 40s who want to learn about art appreciation.

Did you know many actors come and use the Stage Dialects Card Catalogue Index at the Performing Arts Department 5th floor Toronto Reference Library – it's arranged by country and or language and lists books, CDs, videos, cassettes and even records that have specific accents for regions, cities and ethno-cultural groups.   This information is sometimes also available through our online catalogue where you could find:

• British North Country Dialect Instruction
• British North Country Accents for Actors
• Urban Voices : Accent Studies in the British Isles
• Standard British Dialect Instruction

You can also try on Youtube, although the quality may vary on some posts.  A more authoritative online tool may be the British Library's "Sounds Familiar" website.