Real Scots

New Zealand Listener, Volume 19, Issue 470, 25 June 1948, Page 9

Real Scots

N Dunedin the average person, like myself, is bound to have acquaintance with many folk who have come from Scotland at various times and from various localities, dnd has therefore a fair idea of how the real Scot talks; it is only if he happens to come from a payt of Scotland with a really difficult dialect, or if he speaks too quickly, that we have any trouble in understanding his con-versation-how he manages! to understand our New Zealand accent is, of course, another matter! Anyhow, we listen to the radio Scot with canny reserve, and seldom if ever does a synthetic Scottish accent escape our ribald attention. The worst example of all is the American crooner or humorist who attempts to crack a Scots joke or sing a Scottish song. Recently we heard two radio programmes of a_ different nature from local stations.. One was the ZB feature Among the Immortals, in which the life and character of Robert Burns were entrusted to a cast which just didn't manage to cope with them; this could have been such ‘a fine programme that I was irritated at the waste of good material. The other example of Scottish atmosphere was Ursula Bloom's. play The Seagull Never Sings from 4YA. This was very well produced by the NZBS, and particular credit is due, I feel, to the actress who played the part of the mother who imagined her dead son to have returned incarnated as a seagull. Here the Highland accent remained perfect throughout the play, and

I thought it a pity that the authoress should have tried to "put it across" the listener in the last few minutes of the play, where the sceptic is supposed to admit the possibility of a supernatural explanation of certain eerie happenings.