DICTION AN ART

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 134, 27 August 1927, Page 22

DICTION AN ART

i I MRS. PAT CAMPBELL | SAYS THAT BEAUTIFUL I SPEECH SHOULD BECOME A HABIT USE OF PURE ENGLISH It is often complained that play writers are losing the instinct for language, and that actors can no longer speak resounding dialogue. Mrs. Patrick Campbell, at any rate lias earned the right to speak with authority on “Diction and Dramatic Art,” which was the -subject of a lecture given by her at the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith, recently. Mrs. Campbell said she could not remember the time when she did not love words and' want to say them perfectly; the music of them meant so much wonder to her. Diction was an art that should be loved and studied; beautiful speech should be a habit There. were strange people who thought beautiful speech mere affectation. but those who really knew what beautiful speech was knew that it was a scented garden. Careless or ugly speech was a calamity that could be avoided by one’s own sense and study, and by speaking correctly and musically. The great class difference was a difference of speech. Diction was tile use of pure English, spoken without a trace of any accent whatever, and, above all, of any cockney. "When an actor had mastered diction he could deliberately choose his own tone and colour, but the vocal colour he brought had nothing to do with accent. Accent was something we assumed; it could be a bad habit. Neither vocal colour nor accent must he confused with manner. The “Oxford manner’’ was a most unfortunate handicap, keeping aside as it did all variety of tone and colour.