Troy

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Accent Rationale

When creating the accents for Troy, we knew from the outset that all modern or urban sounds had to be avoided, similarly, any sounds that had an identifiable, modern location should be avoided.

In the late Bronze Age (the time of our film), cities were isolated and developed their own styles which influenced everything, from crafts to speech. Many of the characters from the City of Troy are part of the same family: the character of Priam is played by Peter O'Toole whose own accent is Received Pronunciation.

Received Pronunciation or RP is immediately intelligible to a worldwide English-speaking audience: it is well-known for its clarity and ease of comprehension. The actors playing younger characters from the city of Troy also speak RP, but in a slightly different way, as is usual for a younger generation. Many of the actors cast as Trojans are British: Orlando Bloom (Paris) and Saffron Burrows (Andromache) are English. James Cosmo (Glaucus) is a Scottish actor. Owain Yeoman (Lysander) and Mark Lewis Jones (Tecton) are both Welsh actors. The two Australian actors - Eric Bana (Hector) and Rose Byrne (Briseis) - have mastered their RP accents so well as to be completely convincing.

The Greeks were from many different islands: some of them were conquered peoples but all spoke Greek, even if only as a lingua franca by those who had been vanquished by Agamemnon and then brought under the aegis of the powerful Greeks. From this it is clear that the Greeks would speak with different accents but that none of them would sound like the Trojans. We felt that it was important to differentiate between the Greeks and the Trojans.


On a Trojan warship off the coast of Malta, for Troy: Andrew Jack,  Wolfgang Petersen, Eric Bana and Orlando Bloom
Photo by Alex Bailey

The actors cast as Greeks are from both sides of the Atlantic: Brad Pitt (Achilles) and Garrett Hedlund (Patroclus) are from the U.S. Brian Cox (Agamemnon) is Scottish and Brendan Gleeson (Menelaus) is an Irish actor. Sean Bean (Odysseus) is from Yorkshire in England; Tyler Mane (Ajax) is Canadian and John Shrapnel (Nestor) is English and speaks RP.

 

The thread that pulls the speech of these actors and their particular characters together, is the 'OH' vowel sound. All these actors are using their native 'OH' sound which is placed further back in the mouth and is more rounded than in RP. We have softened their individual accents by excluding the 'R' sound that we hear in Scots, Irish and American speech and by making their immediately identifiable, individual speech rhythms less noticeable.

As to individual characters - Achilles and Patroclus were cousins and we would expect them to sound alike. Similarly, Agamemnon and Menelaus were brothers and would sound like each other. The actors' (Brian Cox and Brendan Gleeson) vocal qualities and Celtic undertones reinforce this similarity.

Homer wrote that Helen was taken to Sparta as a girl of sixteen: her previous origin is unknown. We can take it for granted that she would sound like the other Spartans but with subtle differences. Diane Kruger, who plays Helen, is German and she speaks English with some American sounds. As with the other actors we have avoided these American sounds, making her speech more like RP, but have kept some German vowel and consonant sounds as an influence from her unknown past.

When creating a pronunciation guide of the names of people and places in our production of Troy', we realised that one of the main considerations was to create a uniform world away from any modern or conventional usage. We based our guide on phonetic pronunciation, using pure vowels wherever possible and using a logical stress theory. This is simply to take the audience into "our" world of Troy and to avoid flashbacks to Greek studies in the classroom. Of course, as with any living language, there are occasional exceptions to the rule.

PRONUNCIATION GUIDE

Vowel Identification

AH  = 'pasta'   -  Italian pronunciation
AW = 'aught'   - RP pronunciation ('coffee' - New York pronunciation)
O    = 'of'      - RP pronunciation
EH  = 'then'
EE = 'ease'
OO = 'who'
I
      = 'his'
UH  = 'the' (not 'thee')

Vowel Sounds

A final 'e' spelling in a word is pronounced 'EE' as in 'ease.'
A final 'es' spelling in a word is pronounced 'EES' as in 'fleece.'
An 'i' spelling before a vowel is pronounced 'EE' as in 'ease.'
An 'i' spelling before a consonant is pronounced 'I' as in 'his.'
A *y' spelling is a vowel sound and is pronounced 'I' as in 'his.'
An 'ae' spelling is one sound and pronounced 'EE' as in 'ease.'
An 'au' spelling is two sounds and is pronounced 'OU' as in 'south.'

Consonants

'ch' spellings are pronounced 'K'
's' spellings are pronounced 'S' as in 'hiss' (not 'his')

Stress

In words of 2 syllables always stress the first syllable:

Ajax            EH-JAHKS
Glaucus      GLOU-KOOS
Priam          PREE-AHM

In words of 3 or more syllables, stress the penultimate syllable if it ends in a consonant.

Achilles
Agamemnon
Lysander
AH-KIL-LEES
AH-GAH-MEHM-NON
LI-SAHN-DUH

otherwise, stress is on the third syllable from the end:

Diomedes
Patroclus
Archeptolemus

DEE-O-MEH-DEES
PAH-TRO-KLOOS
AH-KEHP-TO-LEH-MOOS

GREEKS

Achilles Son of Peleus, King of Phthia; leader of the Myrmidons AH-KIL-LEES
Agamemnon King of Mycenae; brother to Menelaus

AH-GAH-MEHM-NON

Ajax Son of Telamon, King of Salamis EH-JAHKS
Aphareus Soldier

AH-FAH-REH-OOS

Diomedes King of Argos and Tiryns DEE-O-MEH-DEES
Echepolus Soldier

EH-KEH-PAW-LOOS

Eudorus Myrmidon EH-OO-DAW-ROOS
Haemon Soldier HEE-MON
Helen Queen of Sparta, wife of Menelaus HEH-LEHN
Hippasus Spartan HIP-PAH-SOOS
Menelaus King of Sparta, brother to Agamemnon MEH-NEH-LOUS
Neleus Father to Nestor NEH-LEH-OOS
Nestor First Lieutenant, Mycenae Army NEHS-TAW
Odysseus King of Ithaca O-DIS-EH-OOS
Patroclus Cousin to Achilles PAH-TRO-KLOOS
Peleus Father to Achilles PEH-LEH-OOS
Polydora Greek PO-LI-DAW-RAH
Thetis Mother to Achilles THEH-TIS
 

TROJANS

Andromache Wife to Hector, daughter of King of Thebes AHN-DRO-MAH-KEE
Archeptolemus Trojan high priest AH-KEHP-TO-LEH-MOOS
Aeneas Trojan lord EE-NEH-AHS
Agenor Trojan warrior AH-GEH-NAW
Briseis Cousin to Paris; temple virgin BREE-SEH-IS
Glaucus Trojan general GLOU-KOOS
Hecamede Slave woman to Ajax - born a Trojan HEH-KAH-MEH-DEE
Hector Prince, brother to Paris HEHK-TAW
Lysander Trojan captain LI-SAHN-DUH
Paris Prince, brother to Hector PAH-RIS
Priam King, father to Hector and Paris PREE-AHM
Scamandrius Prince, son of Hector and Andromache SKAH-MAHN-DREE-OOS
Tecton Captain, Apollonian brigade TEHK-TON
Velior Trojan nobleman VEH-LEE-AW
Heclus Trojan HEK-LOOS
Menoetius Father of Patroclus MEH-NAW-EH-TEE-OOS
Selepius Trojan SHE-LEH-PEE-OOS
Ucalegon Greek OO-KAH-LEH-GON

THESSALONIANS

Triopas Thessalonian King TREE-O-PAHS
Boagrius Thessalonian  BAW-AHG-REE-OOS

 PEOPLE PLACES THINGS

Arcadians people AH-KAH-DEE-AHNS
Epeians people EH-PEH-AHNS
Myrmidons people MUH-MI-DONS
Mycenaeans people MI-SEE-NEE-AHNS
Messenians people MEHS-SEH-NEE-AHNS
Thessalonians people THES-SAH-LON-EE-AHNS
Argos place/hunting dog AH-GOS
Cyparisseis place SI-PAH-RIS-SEH-IS
Ithaca place ITH-AH-KAH
Larissa place LAH-RIS-SAH
Lyrnessus place LIR-NEHS-SOOS
Megara place MEH-GAH-RAH
Mycenae place MI-SEE-NEE
Phthia place FTHEE-AH
Salamis place SAH-LAH-MIS
Sparta place SPAH-TAH
Thessaly place THEHS-SAH-LEE
Athena goddess AH-THEH-NAH
Poseidon god PO-SAHEE-DON
Zeus god ZYOOS
Scamander river SKAH-MAHN-DUH
Styx river STIKS
Hellespont river HEL-LEHS-PONT
Aegean sea EE-GEE-AHN
Propontis sea PRO-PON-TIS

Dialogue/Dialect Department

Andrew Jack, Róisín Carty, Paula Jack

 

 

 

 

 




 
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