Learning to walk and talk like Claudia Roe - the talk

On the long list of 'things I don't share with Claudia' one of the most obvious ones is that we have completely different accents. Perfecting your vocals for any character is essential, so when it is someone with a different accent you have an even harder job; if my accent isn't convincing then all the other elements that I have built her character with will suddenly share the same quality- amateur and fake. For a women who uses words in such a calculated, effective way, her voice has to have a quality to match. Her voice has to be just as perfect as everything else about her person.

Although I have been rehearsing in an American accent for weeks having an accent coach in to actually tell you what your mouth is doing to make the sounds, irons out an creases in your technique and she was also able to answer the specific questions I had regarding things I couldn't quite get my tongue around. As far as mouth placement for different sounds the key rules I learnt were:

• The Enron cast's new motto- flat, back and wide. These are the three things that describe the mouth and tongue placement for an American accent- flat tongue, speaking from the back of your mouth with you mouth wide open.  When getting into your accent it is a good phrase to repeat over and over so as to adjust your mouth to it's new setting. 
• The l sound used in the American accent is called a dark l. The word 'little' contains both a light and dark l sound, with the first l sound being light and the second dark. That 'ul' sound created at the end of this word is the sort of sound an American accent will use to form the l sound. 
• The t sound is made by placing the tip of your tongue behind your front teeth instead of how a British accent places it, past the front teeth and onto your lips. 

Something a little random that I finally addressed with the accent coach today is one word that I cannot say without turning from a DC accent to a thick New York accent; the word 'divorced.' This word from Claudia's monologue has taken on a life of it's own and I can't help but do it in a New York accent and I have no explanation as to why. However our coach was able to to tell me that when I make the 'or' sound I needed to stretch the top of my mouth instead of keeping it rigid, which makes the sound lighter and rids it of the deeper, grittier tones of my freak New York accent. 

Even though my mouth had been forming these shapes and making those placements for weeks because I didn't know what I was actually doing there were inconsistencies. Claudia's voice has to match the smooth style that you see in every aspect of her character. Everything she does is to draw attention; it's something she needs to function. Her voice has got to be that of a women with command, sex appeal and 40 years worth of knowledge. Her voice will be such an important aspect when trying to convince people that I am that person because if my accent is executed skillfully, I've already won half the battle in my attempt to transform. Now that I have solid roots in the accent I can play and put my stamp on it, knowing that I have a solid foundation I can build on. Layering on all these elements is really starting to make me feel like I can give a convincing, informed performance.