If we were to pronounce Shakespeare’s English it would in many ways be more closely related to American than Received Pronunciation - The affected Queen’s English developed in the 19th century.
They should speak Australian: “Look here, mate. We can’t just put on our budgie smugglers and swim over to invade the bloody Brits. Anyway, tomorrow’s a public holiday. Not worth starting nothing now.”
GB is the empire we’re most familiar with—it’s an audio shorthand for a culture that’s old, authoritarian, and dead. It’s the sound of imperialism. If they spoke in Italian accents, we’d think Sopranos, Godfather, Chef Boyardee.
English people don’t speak in “Shakespearean English”. That accent is dead af and is an accent that is closer to American blended with old 1950s “Pirate” character accent than any current English Received Pronunciation.
Gladiator 2 has a great New York accented Roman! Denzel!!
Because the great actors started out as Shakespearean actors until they were granted command of star ships. Lorne Greene (Julius Caesar) and Shatner (boy) were Romans together in Stratford Ontario in the 1950s. Colicos, at 22, was the youngest actor to play King Lear at London's Old Vic.
Running low on Canadians, Star Trek turned to a Yorkshireman who had a 27-year career with the Royal Shakespeare Company. He had played Sejanus in "I, Claudius" and later the title role.
I commented on the Canadians, whose British accents are an artifact of being Shakespearean actors. I forgot Christopher Plummer, who performed with Shatner on stage in Montreal and Greene on CBC, and played Mark Antony at the American Shakespeare Festival before rising in the Klingon empire.
Notable US star, Marlon Brando, was not essentially a Shakespearean actor, did a rather famous version of Mark Antony. Of course, even though it is a Hollywood production, many of the major characters are Brits: Mason, Gielgud, Kerr, Carson.
Finally, I suppose the Brits have an affinity for Roman epic films and have done one or two. My favorite Roman was the mighty Titus Pullo, from the wonderful series: Rome. Played by George Raymond Stevenson, graduate of the Bristol Old Vic.
Cuz King James the first was like Cool beans have it rewritten! It's just popularity after that, there was so many rewrites of the bible before hand too.
Same reason why the Pope Alexander VI ordered new paintings of Jesus and they landed on Borgia's son & went "he pretty" 🤩 😂
I mean, if they're speaking English, just have them speak ordinary English since they would be speaking the ordinary language and dialect of their day.
During the 400 years Romans were in Britain, a lot of the people spoke Latin. There would be local Briton & Celtic language variants. Britain was a mixture of tribes & had a clear East/West split. English was not formed until 500AD.
Comments
“And then that animal Brutus stabbed my uncle from behind!”
“He was gay, Brutus?”
“No!! Are you listening to me?”
Salvē, quid agis?
?🙃
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbarians_(2020_TV_series)
SHAKESPEARE
🤔🤨???
Gladiator 2 has a great New York accented Roman! Denzel!!
Same reason why the Pope Alexander VI ordered new paintings of Jesus and they landed on Borgia's son & went "he pretty" 🤩 😂
Same thing with Civil War era stuff.