Sunday, September 17, 2000

English coach accents finer points of voice

By LAURA STEWART
NEWS-JOURNAL FINE ARTS WRITER

DAYTONA BEACH — Monya Winzer Gilbert took a break from her tape machine and Seaside Music Theater rehearsals, relaxing over a spot of iced tea.

Still, the English-born Winzer Gilbert's mind kept spinning from one distinctive dialect to another from country to cockney to "Queen's English," as in Queen Victoria as she considered her role as English accent coach for the Seaside production of the Charles Dickens classic, "Great Expectations," that opens Friday.

"The characters in "Great Expectations" live in 19th century England, but their variations in accent aren't because they're in the past," said Winzer Gilbert, Seaside's director of development and a longtime volunteer on-air host for WCEU-Channel 15's popular Saturday night British comedy programming.

"In fact, all of the accents are probably exactly the same today as they were then," said Winzer Gilbert, who was born in Cockney country in Lambeth and raised in London. Because the characters in "Great Expectations" come from different parts of England, they must tailor their dialects to their regions and to the moment in the play.

Pip, as a youth (David Pandich), is a country boy from Kent and so speaks with a country" accent that Winzer Gilbert created as an amalgam of Kent, Devon and Somerset accents. But as a man (Derrick Peterson), Pip has become more educated, a gentleman. And so he speaks in a noticeably different, "plummier" voice.

Similarly, Miss Havesham (Wendy Lehr) and Pip's muse, Estella (Lindley Gibbs), are educated and live in the big house and speak the more clipped, formal Queen's English." To add to the challenge of Winzer Gilbert's job and to the challenge to the play's actors some actors play more than one role and must change character and accent seamlessly.

"When Old Pip (Peterson) is narrating the story and then we're shown Young Pip (Pandich) acting it, their accents must both be "country" they must match. So Derrick must master two accents," said Winzer Gilbert. "And Julia (Davidson) as Mrs. Joe must have a country accent, while as the second character she plays, Molly, she must have a Cockney accent."

To demonstrate each accent, Winzer Gilbert made audiotapes of herself speaking each actor's lines. The actors studied them, practiced them and also ran through a series of linguistic exercises she created for them. In addition, Winzer Gilbert sits with director Lester Malizia at rehearsals, and keeps a sharp ear on the language as it is spoken and as the actor becomes accustomed to speaking it.

"I did suggest a series of very short exercises," she said, her own experience in a wealth of English and Irish accents obviously serving her well. Winzer Gilbert's family moved often during her first two years, because of the London Blitz. They stayed in the country, and finally ended up with cousins in Belfast before returning to London, where the young Winzer Gilbert played with her Cockney mates on the streets.

"My mother always said humorously that anything I did that she didn't approve of was a result of all those moves," she said, stifling a laugh. "We moved 23 times in two years and I ended up with a strong Belfast accent. Then next thing I did was went out and played in Maida Vale (in London), which was a very down to earth place back then. So I developed a wonderful Cockney accent.

"I can't do the Belfast accent now, for some reason, but I can do the Cockney well today," she said. Her challenge isn't so much to help Seaside actors master dialects as to make the different accents automatic for them. "It's touchy," said Winzer Gilbert, finishing her tea and getting ready to tape another script before going to rehearsal.

"The trick is for the actors to be able to get the true emotional content of the lines when they're dealing with what's almost another language," she said carefully, in the clear accent she developed after years of touring the world as a performer and finally setting in DeLand, in the mid-1990s.

"The job is to be authentic without becoming stiff and pedantic. If we were too pedantic, we'd never get the show on in time."

Playbill

What: Seaside Music Theaters 'Great Expectations'

When: Friday through Oct. 8.

Where: Theater Center, Building 8, Daytona Beach Community College, 1200 W. International Speedway Blvd., Daytona Beach.

Tickets: $20 to $22, available at SMTs box office at SMT Downtown, 176 N. Beach St., Daytona Beach, or by calling (904) 252-6200 or (904) 255-3146.