Dialects for the Stage

by Evangeline Machlin

Dialect work is one of the actor's most challenging tasks. Need to know a Russian accent? Playing a German countess or a Midwestern farmhand? These and more accents – from Yiddish to French Canadian – are clearly explained in Evangeline Machlin's classic work. Now available in a book-and-downloadable resources format, Evangeline Machlin's Dialects for the Stage is based on a method of dialect acquisition she developed during her years working with students at Boston University's Division of Theatre. During her long career, Evangeline Machlin trained such actors as Steve McQueen, Lee Grant, Suzanne Pleshette, Joanne Woodward, and Faye Dunaway.

160 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 2005

Reviews

[Mark Woodland · Rating 4 out of 5]

My first piece of advice is, if you have an interest in this subject, is to buy this book NOW. The reason for this is that there are few enough dialect books out there, but many of them are out of print, or can only be found used. The practical upshot of this is that you can't get the recordings that are supposed to go along with the book, and this is critical. Right now, only the Stern series has CDs readily available, they're sold one-by-one, and are comparatively expensive. That being said, this is a good book. It contains many variations of each dialect, though some of them have minimal coverage and time on the CDs. It's a more useful book if you already have an ear for dialects. One of the reasons for this is that the phonetic "shorthand" it uses is of their own devising; it's not a standard pattern, and can be misleading, especially if you have a native accent of your own. On the other hand, there is a section in the back relating their shorthand to the International Phonetic Alphabet, which you ought to know if you're serious about dialects. I'll use this book a lot, and recommend it to others.

[Carolyn]

Not very helpful...and it uses the "N" word, ICK! I recommend using "Accents: A Manual for Actors" instead!!

[Erica · Rating 5 out of 5]

this is my grandmother's book :)