I Fall For It Every Time

I was taking advantage of the fab BBC online radio service this afternoon, listening to the news and so on, when I saw that they had an archived broadcast of Arnold Wesker's Roots up on the site in honour of the 50th anniversary of the Royal Court Theatre.

For those of you unfamiliar with the play, Roots tells the story of a Norfolk woman returning from her new life in London for a visit with her fearful and yokel-y family and the attendant strife and chaos her reappearance inflicts on all concerned. I had to read the play in school, enjoyed it, and have fond if hazy memories of it (especially in the light of looking back on family history, friends moving away from Norfolk to the bright lights, and also the universal experience of leaving behind regional/generational/educational baselines as one ages). Jolly good, wouldn't be a bad way of passing an afternoon which workwise would mostly involve light reading and a few emails, so on with the production, radio players!

I lasted five minutes before the attempts at Norfolk accents by the cast drove me away.

So in an impassioned open plea to any actors who happen to be passing: STOP IT! PLEASE! JUST STOP IT! If you were a plumber and you did such a half-arsed job on one of your core trade functions, I'd be within my rights to sue you. As pipe-grouting is to plumbers, so accents are to actors. Get it right or piss off, you vain preening talking meat sticks.

Thank you.

Modern Norfolk (above)...

And how actors see it