PIP PIP CHEERIO!!

-
(the following blog post must be read in a cockney accent...) 

'Ello Govna!!! 
 (Friends and readers),

At Fox we recently began rehearsals for the classic musical Oliver! Based on the Charles Dickens novel, Oliver Twist. 

The play takes place in London and as most of the characters are poor, working class folks (or pick pockets) speaking in a cockney accent comes with the territory. 

With just 5 weeks to prepare our accents before opening, the start of a new social experiment is born...

How many times can we speak in an accent in our day to day lives...? ...How do the words we say every day sound when chewing the diphthongs in syllables and bringing the sound forward in our mouths? 

What might our voice lessons be if we sang "Welche Wonne" or "Do Ve Sei" in a cockney accent?! 

What if we showed up to class to discuss journalism, American literature, or Faith and Art in our bright big accents?

Of course ... These ideas are slight exaggerations and most of us don't find ourselves reporting for our journalism articles in accent or singing Italian Arias as though we were orphans in London. 

But still ... We immerse ourselves in the world a little bit extra...we get caught up in the excitement of "Food GLORIOUS Food," trying to remember choreography in the halls and yelling in dramatized accents to each other on our way home or in between classes. 

We try out new words and new sounds and we giggle as we fail and sound utterly ridiculous. 

My friend pointed out to me that in some way, doing this show is one big social experiment on how people react to people suddenly talking in Cockney accents for 5 weeks straight. 

So...all that to say ... If you hear what sounds like London workhouse boys cracking jokes across campus, no...it's not part of a reality tv show, or a prank and no...you didn't time travel to London in your sleep...it's merely the Theatre kids preparing for Oliver and amping up for a wild ride of a rehearsal process. 

We aren't crazy (well maybe a little...) it's just accents take work, and a different kind of vulnerability (bc you know you might sound super stupid), and we have to get over ourselves and we have to get the sounds in our bodies and so sometimes it means we speak in accents at the most ridiculous of times. 

Well...if you hear us making ourselves die from laughter at our own unconvincing British "pip pip cheerios,"... you know why:) 

Sincerely,
Sophi 

(Pip pip cheerio, I'll be back soon!!!) 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Welcome!!

-
Hi!! Hey there! Yeah you! I'm thrilled your reading this today. You know why? Because I want to tell you that you are loved...so. freaking. loved. Now that you know that I guess I should tell you what your getting yourself into reading this. I have always loved writing and for some time now I have wanted to start a blog. I feel like I am constantly narrating life internally, weaving stories from my surroundings and filtering my thoughts into mental journal entries. Now I feel God calling me (again) to write a blog. And guys I desperately just want to do it already!! But the perfectionist in me also desperately wants to wait until I have the perfectly curated blog post written. Until the blog is perfectly laid out with just the right colors and pictures. But...I've been down that road. And it never leads to me actually posting anything. SO this time I'm just going to do it. I'm just going to post this raw, messy blog post of me telling you that I'm going to write way...
Read more

PB+J on the Beach

-
Image
Peanut Butter and Jelly on the beach.   {A timeless classic.} Ingredients:  1. Approximately 3 Jelly cups from the hotel complimentary breakfast 2. Exactly 2 peanut butter cups...also from the hotel complimentary breakfast.  3. One slice of Trader Joe's sourdough sliced bread Ok ok so you probably already know how to make a PB and J sandwich. But if you are a true connoisseur like me, you know that the type of Jelly or Peanut Butter hardly matters when you are eating a PB and J on the beach. With sand on your toes, salt in your hair, and the remains of the beach water on your skin, the absolute best thing is a classic peanut butter and jelly sandwich..no matter what type of peanut butter or jelly was used in the making. Maybe it's the peanut butter and jelly sandwich, or maybe it's the beach...but I think there is something about both, together, that inevitably brings one to a state of reflection. Everything else fades away but the crash of the waves...
Read more

Why to Write

-
One of my first solid memories as a writer is 4th grade English. My teacher was Mrs. Kellog and she began every class with a writing prompt and a free write to get us thinking and writing. With each prompt my highly imaginitive brain would instantly start running, and my hand would attempt to keep up with it as I would write the beginning of what my 9 year old self truly believed was meant to be a full blown novel. I'm pretty sure every single story ended with "to be continued." At the end of the year we got to have our stories printed in a hard bound book with a cover and title of our design. It included a dedication statement and title page. And I remember feeling like these stories were my most prized position and one of my greatest accomplishment. I think in this moment I dreamt of turning these beginnings into full stories someday.      It wasn't until early highschool that I gained a specific goal and desire as a writer. At eight years old I had begun to develop...
Read more