As Cursed Child heads to Broadway, a popular theater debate breaks out. Should these American stage actors speak with an accent?
The London stage play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is proving to be just as successful as the franchise it sprang from. The show is ready to be taken out on the road, and will soon be headed for the bright lights of Broadway. But a question arises. Since Harry Potter is canonically British, are the American actors going to be able to pull off the diversity of a UK accent?
Stage accents are somewhat of a debate issue throughout the theater community. Our friends over at MuggleNet.com pointed this out to us, so we decided to do a little speculation of our own.
Photo: Official Site/Manuel Harlan
First off, most of the time, accents have to be heavily exaggerated, depending on what kind of play is being put on. Cursed Child doesn’t strike us as totally light-hearted, so the potential for a more serious accent to be put on can only add to the story.
However, some are under the impression that if an actor doesn’t pull off the accent just perfectly, it can ruin their entire performance. Being able to pinpoint the areas where the actor’s accent slipped can make for an uncomfortable viewing.
But not everyone who goes to see a play is a theater aficionado. Some just want to watch a great production, and don’t pay as close attention to the different forms of accents. Keeping things as British as possible and with a variety of dialects should suit everyone’s needs when watching Cursed Child.
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In an interview for Time Out New York, director John Tiffany says recasting is in the works, and the definitely is a good mix of both British and American actors. We’ll see (and hear) for ourselves when Cursed Child hits Broadway in 2018.