Do3: The Marriage of Figaro

[Angle]

Class in the BBC Drama Department

Why are you surprised that Susannah and Figaro had northern accents?

Servants and "common" people are almost always, it seems to me, played by actors with northern accents while their superiors are always played by actors speaking in Received Pronunciation.

Some might counter that they are not all Yorkshire or Lancashire accents but that Scouse, Geordie and Lancashire accents to say nothing of Northern Irish, Brum or Devonian often appear in the similar roles.

But if anyone is required to portray the lowest of the low, listen for a scouser.

I wonder what the pecking order is.

Don

[french frank]

Hey! Hang on. Are we northerners not English?

I meant English rather than French, or possibly even Spanish, not English as distinct from North Country. As soon as you translate into another language you make equivalent differentiations in speech. Where did Figaro and Susanna come from - Languedoc? Andalucia?

Oooh, Russ! Sorry you found it tedious ...

[tony yyy]

I couldn't fault the acting and production but I found myself thinking of Mozart's music a lot of the time. If I'd come across the play first, I suspect I wouldn't have thought it suitable for being turned into an opera as it's so complicated and moves so fast.