Janey Swanson talks to dialect coach William Conacher about his work
Dialect coach William Conacher tells Janey Swanson how an ear for phonetics led to the job of his dreams!
THE right accent can make all the difference to an actor’s performance, as proved by Claire Foy when she played the young Queen Elizabeth in “The Crown”. And the fact that the Queen sounded just as she should in the hit TV series is partly thanks to dialect coach William Conacher.
“I help actors talk with exactly the right accent for their character,” William tells me.
William has worked as a dialect coach on hundreds of TV series and films.
“When I started working on ‘The Crown’, I had to study how the Queen and the Royal Family speak and discovered that they don’t actually open their mouths, which explains why their voices sound so different.
“When I was working on ITV’S ‘Victoria’ with Tom Hughes, who plays Prince Albert, we needed the Prince to speak English with a German accent, while also conveying through his voice that he was vulnerable, sensitive – and quite sexy.
“Obviously, there are no recordings of Prince Albert talking, but Tom and I worked together and ‘found’ his voice.”
William has been a dialect coach for 23 years, having previously been an actor.
“I very quickly realised I didn’t have the reactive personality you need to be an actor and branched into teaching, which led me to discover that I really enjoyed phonetics and the difference accents can make to how words sound.”
William teaches all kinds of dialects, including American and Australian accents.
“As two-thirds of film work is in the USA, British actors are constantly having to learn different American accents and that’s when I’m often asked to step in,” he says.
“Many of my jobs start with a phone call and a request to help an American or British actor who needs to learn a particular accent. I usually ask for four weeks to get them to the stage where, hopefully, they’ll sound like a local.”
William’s own accent is almost imperceptible, which he reveals is the result of growing up in Surrey and then living in London, with a couple of years in New York.
“I listen to voices and dialects all the time,” he says, successfully identifying my east coast of Scotland
accent. “However, although I can identify dialects, that’s not what being a dialect coach is all about. As a dialect coach, it’s my job to work on a script with an actor so they sound the part as well as looking and acting the part.”
When teaching a dialect, William begins by listening to voices from the same area and also of the same gender, period of time and class.
“When I started out as a dialect coach, the only way to do this research was to go to the National Sound Archive at the British Library or travel to the area in question,” William recalls.
“These days, thanks to the internet, I can usually find the dialect in question online, which saves on shoe leather but isn’t quite the same as sitting chatting to people.”
Over the years, William has found that there’s no accent which is inherently more difficult than others, although he finds that the hardest dialects to teach are those that are closest to an actor’s own dialect.
“Welsh people find Geordie accents difficult and vice versa, Glasgow people find Belfast accents tricky and vice versa,” William adds, who explains that there are several “markers” for every accent, including rhythm, melody, vowel and consonant changes.
“Learning a new accent is about training your muscles, and the more you do it, the more familiar your muscles become to making the necessary changes. It’s very similar to learning dance steps – only with your vocal cords and facial muscles rather than your feet and legs!
William has just finished working on “Bohemian Rhapsody”, which is the new film about Freddie Mercury and Queen, and the latest Mary, Queen of Scots film.
“I really enjoy my job,” he says. “Of course, there are times when you’re hanging around on set all day, which can be dull, but I’m invariably working with really good actors on really good material and with really good directors, which is a great privilege.”
Although William refuses to name his favourite actors, he admits to being “thrilled” to have worked with Tom Hanks on the film “Cloud Atlas”.
“Tom was everything I expected him to be – a lovely family man with a great sense of humour,” he says. “I really enjoyed working with him.
“I also really enjoy working with Claire Foy, who played the Queen in the first two series of “The Crown” and who’s become a really good friend.
“I’m also very fond of Vanessa Kirby, who played Princess Margaret in ‘The Crown’, Matt Smith, who played Prince Philip, and John Lithgow, who played Churchill.
“And I adore Rami Malik who plays Freddie Mercury in “Bohemian Rhapsody”, and I’m good friends with Naomi Watts, who I’ve worked with on about six films. And, of course, there’s Kate Winslet, who I’ve coached for a couple of her film roles.
“This is why I can’t pick out any favourites!” William laughs. “I’m terrified I’ll offend someone by leaving them out!” ■