Help with cockney accent?

Question: Help with cockney accent!?

Can anyone give me tips on doing a cockney accent!?I supposed to be Eliza in My Fair Lady and having trouble with the accent!?!Www@QuestionHome@Com

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:

I played Eliza in Pygmalion several years ago, and it was the first time I ever did British accents!. The accents are easy to do, once you know a few tricks!.

In the Pygmalion script, the Cockney language was written out phonetically -- "pye" instead of "pay," and "'ead" instead of "head," etc!. If the MFL script is written the same way, then practice reading the lines as-written, very slowly, paying close attention to how you sound!. Record yourself, and listen to the recordings to see how you're doing!.

If the script isn't written phonetically, then rent yourself some movies with Cockney speech in them -- you may not want to rent MFL itself, in case you're worried about copying Audrey Hepburn's performance; the musical Oliver has a lot of Cockney in it, so you might start there -- and listen to the sounds and cadences over and over!.

The best trick I ever learned for doing an English accent of any kind came from Professor Henry Higgins himself -- that bit where he says "put the tip of your tongue against the top of your lower teeth!." Do that! Pretend the tip of your tongue is absolutely glued to the top of your lower teeth, and try talking like that!.

You will find that this forces you to lengthen vowels ("hahm" instead of "ham") and drop the r's at the ends of words ("hahmbahgah" instead of "hamburger")!. You'll sound weird at first, but if you practice it a lot, you'll end up sounding very British indeed!.

Good luck with Eliza; she was my #1 dream role!. I hope you have as much fun playing her as I did!Www@QuestionHome@Com

Just read it as written!. Directors are supposed to teach their actors what they need to do the play!. Why isn't yours!?Www@QuestionHome@Com