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Tom Hollander as Dylan Thomas

(33 Posts)
Anniebach Tue 20-May-14 11:16:12

Thank you annodomini. There is always confusion about a Welsh accent , there is no such thing as a single Welsh accent just as there is no single English accent. Forgive me, difficult to explain. In England we speak of Liverpool, Birmingham , Dorset etc accents , but no matter where a person hails from in Wales they have a Welsh accent , Yet North, South and West are so different, even the valleys in South Wales do not speak with the same accent . Burton didn't slip into a Welsh accent , he did a 'how green was my valley' accent lol

A person from Anglesey can speak the very same sentence as a person from the Rhondda in half the time . Their diction was due to elocution lessons but the softness is still there as is the drama , we do so do drama lol . Listening to Thomas read ' Do Not Go Gently' or Burton as the first voice in Milkwood and the fact they were Welsh can not be disguised .

Did you watch the BBC production of Milkwood with the thirty odd Welsh actors / singers ?

annodomini Tue 20-May-14 10:34:17

It's referred to in this article

annodomini Tue 20-May-14 10:32:15

Anniebach, DT himself referred to his 'cut glass accent'. Both he and Burton could slip easily in and out of either accent. Expat Scots like me can do the same - up to a point.

Anniebach Tue 20-May-14 10:01:46

I thought Hollander was excellent as Thomas. As both Burton and Thomas had Welsh accents I don't understand where a cut glass accent comes into this

annodomini Tue 20-May-14 09:50:17

Richard Burton reading DT - available on Amazon and I couldn't resist ordering it. It's a compulsion. Help!

annodomini Tue 20-May-14 09:47:13

DT called it his 'cut glass accent'. Apparently his father discouraged him from speaking in a Welsh accent. Tom Hollander looked and sounded so much like him that it was almost spooky. What a genius DT was, such a damaged genius. We had a record of him speaking some of his best known poems - Fern Hill, And Death Shall Have No Dominion, Do Not Go Gently... But personally I think Richard Burton speaks Under Milk Wood better.

Soutra Tue 20-May-14 09:28:23

I thought it (and him) excellent. An original recording I once heard of DT revealed rather more clipped BBC vowels (surprisingly) though.

suebailey1 Tue 20-May-14 09:23:06

I finished watching this yesterday evening and after a slow and painful start the second half was mesmerising. I am not a poetry fan and didn't understand Under Milk Wood at school but hearing Tom Hollander's readings I am more than interested. Tom's welsh accent came and went a bit but overall a fantastic performance. Anyone else enjoy this? Worth a watch on I-player if you missed it.