In which I’m watching Doctor Who on PBS. Fuck, I love me some Doctor Who!
Isn’t it wonderful how committed those British Shakespearian actors are to their characters, even when they’re doing cheesy sci-fi on telly and are surrounded by a set constructed entirely of cardboard boxes covered in foil and filled with Christmas lights and that are intended with all sincerity to look like the interior of a spaceship?
There may be kitschy things flashing and whirring and beeping in the background, but the lieutenant is steely-eyed and so utterly natural in the delivery of his lines, the actor so cognizant of his character’s motivation that the cheesiness retreats and the story is paramount.
Three cheers for Shakespeare, indirectly because of whom disbelief can be suspended!
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Isn’t it weird to see them in shows like Rome or The Tudors and they are talking in their British accents?
For some reason I find it easier to overlook a modern Brit accent in nearly anything, but a modern American accent in a period piece drives me crazy! -m