Lizzie Borden Society Forum

I'm currently working with an actress who is playing Lizzie Borden and we are trying to decide what type of accent she had.

Did she have a New England accent?

I'm sure you'll be getting better posts than this one, but there is no ONE "New England" accent. Boston doesn't sound like Bar Harbor, which doesn't sound like Vermont, and so on.

Also, is she doing a solo piece, or is this a play with other actors? If she's the only one doing any kind of accent, she'll stand out.

I have heard it was soft and refined -at least in later life. Swansea and Somerset sure have a distinctive accent! Just exaggerating here a little

four= foe-wa
lobster= lobsta
park=pah-k
card party = cod potty
sure= shu-waa
pattern= pattin
shirt- shut
door-doe-wa
doctor= dak-ta
and when somebody wants you to repeat something they say "Please???"
Now, don't send me angry letters. I married one of these Yankees and you should see the fun his people make of my accent! They also speak a mile a minute up here.

Bob, you're absolutely right. Not being from New England it wasn't something that I thought of. Being from New York I always get testy when people mistake the Brooklyn accent for a Queens accent!! Most non-New Yorkers don't even know there is a difference.

It's a one woman thing, but still we'd like to do something that would be fairly acceptable to someone from the Fall River area.

Shelly, I'm passing your phonetic list onto Kyla (the actress) but I'm going to encourage her to investigate a little more...perhaps even spend some time in Fall River (she should see the house anyway).

Yes- send her to Fall River. Or- I know a few natives she could speak with on the phone!

Cripes! It took me a good two years of concerted effort to get RID of that accent, and here's someone who wants to acquire it just to sound like Lizzie Bawdin!

And, if you haven't already thought of it, maybe you could have a friendly Fall Riverian read some of the script into a tape recawdah for your actress!

And, if you haven't already thought of it, maybe you could have a friendly Fall Riverian read some of the script into a tape recawdah for your actress, over the phone (after faxing some of it to her)!

Bob, that's a terrific idea.. Or as they say in New Yourk...Idear....