Off to See "The Voice"

Last Friday, the Oleanna cast and crew had the ultimate bonding experience.
Pictionary and drinks were deeply involved and many new inside jokes have emerged...which I will let you in on soon enough.

As I've probably mentioned before, we were going to Manchester to meet up with a voice coach to help us with our accents- David on his American accent, me on my southern twang.
We stayed at the director, James', parents house.

The drive over was awesome- lovely British countryside, accompanied by the ultimate Manchester soundtrack: Oasis, The Smiths, to name a few. From there Flo dedicated "California" by Phantom Planet to me...and that started a whole search on James' iPod for songs about California. I never realized just how many there are!

In Manchester, we stopped for lunch at this really nice village restaurant called the Frozen Mop (once I get the picture David took, I'll post it).
Before getting to the restaurant, James had assured me that it wasn't posh, but once we got there and I caught a glimpse of candles and squeaky clean wine glasses, I freaked out. Once we got inside though and I saw the waiters weren't in tuxes, I calmed down a bit.

After a good meal, we headed for James' house where we relaxed for a short while before meeting up with Mark Langley, the voice coach.
At the house I tried my hand at Wii which was given to James' dad for his 60th birthday. :)

We met with Mark "The Voice" Langley (we now call him) at his flat.
Even the session was mainly for David's benefit, it was still so so interesting listening to Mark talk about different accents and point out the differences in the way people from different areas say certain words.
For instance the further west you go in the states, the more they elongate their vowels and we tend to sound more monotone. In the east they speak with more staccatos. The further south you go the more twangy the accent is. When I demonstrated the southern accent that I've been doing, he said I sounded like I was from Virginia. (So nevermind Georgia- Carol is now from Virginia.)
I was pretty much the tape player Mark would usually use in his voice sessions, and when he asked me to say certain phrases he would then point out to David certain things like the way I would shape my mouth, where I'd place the emphasis; things I've never noticed before!
He was such a clever man! Lovely as well.

Some highlights of the session:

Mark was teaching David how to do the "oo" sounds.
Mark: "Now, as you know there is a certain floating anchored marker, B-O-U-Y. We pronounce it 'boi' whereas Alex would pronounce it..."
Me: "Boo-ee."
James: "WHAT?!"

David was expressing difficulty in keeping the American accent on lines where he's shouting at me.
Mark: "Ah yes, but you'll find that the American accent is the best accent to shout and curse in. For instance, Alex, would you say 'F*** me'?"
Me: "F*** me."
Mark: "Yes but I meant more as a curse rather than a demand."
I was teased so much for that afterwards. And now David, James, and Flo's friends are joshing me about it too.

Oh, I also noticed that I pronounce the "t"s in "winter" and "international"...or maybe it's just something I've picked up since I got here, cuz it struck Mark "The Voice" Langley as (unusually) proper (for an American).

So after that, James took us around Manchester that was all decked out and ready for the holidays.



We stopped for a bite to eat and then popped by a club/lounge. I didn't have any ID on me at the moment but James told me not to worry about it and we pretty much waltzed past the bouncer at the door.
We retreated to the downstairs area that was much less crowded and there was this huge comfy lounge area with pillows and, yeah, curtains for privacy.



Flo busted out some of her rapping skills...



We only stayed for a short while and headed for James' for more socializing.

There he busted out the Pictionary. It was Cast vs. Crew.
Mom, Dad, this game still brings out the worst in me.




God I was so frazzled and frustrated.

I don't think I've posted a proper picture of David before:



He just might murder me for that one...
And here's the Oleanna company:


David, Flo: Producer, James: Director

We all then went outside for a smoke (yes, yes I had one and then quickly remembered why I'm not a smoker)
and on the front lawn we found a half rotten apple and since our poster for Oleanna is an image of an apple, we all got way too excited and insisted on a photo shoot of us with it:



We're so weird.

Of all the people I told that I was going to Manchester for the weekend, the ones who had been there told me to be careful not to get shot.
Luckily I returned from "Gunchester" unscathed.