Bonus! Fun backstage stories from Ian McKellen and Derek Jacobi
Hello there!
I'm chugging away on multiple videos for you right now -- one about Roy Cohn and Angels in America; and another about the 2013 British sitcom Vicious. For this week's bonus video, I've got some fun backstage stories from the stars of Vicious, the always-iconic Sir Ian and Sir Derek, regarding their youthful hairstyles and run-ins with various other queer creatives. Was Noël Coward making a pass at Derek, or just being really fucking weird?
Also, an important question: When I say the name of the actor Iwan Rheon, how hard should I try to match the Welsh pronunciation???
Backup link in case the video doesn't work: https://youtu.be/UJPGEptVpnI
Comments (13)
Noel Coward seems to have been a real character. I find it so funny that he was friends (or at least on friendly neighbour terms) with Ian Fleming. Imagine those dinner parties.
I know!!! There was a great project awhile back that dramatized conversations between Andy Warhol & Truman Capote, and I would love to see something similar with Noel & Ian.
Really enjoyed the video. Also it would be so incredible if you did a James Whale video!
My preference, as a person with a hard-to-pronounce name, is that people try to pronounce it as little as possible. When you do need to say it, just do what you can do; don't put a bunch of work in it or put too fine a point on it (since they'll probably get it wrong anyway). My aesthetic preference more generally is that when a person is speaking one language or dialect, they should stick to sounds that exist in that language/dialect. But I think this opinion is less popular in America than elsewhere.
I would stick with how you'd say it in American English. I've work with a lot of foreign folks who for the most part have never expected people to learn a whole new pronunciation. Then again, I worked with a Karen who demanded the Dutch pronunciation(K-Ah-ren not K-Ay-ren), but that might have been partially to do with the "Karen" jokes being in their heyday at that time.
There’s a really great feature length documentary about Noel Coward called Mad About The Boy from 2023.
My personal feeling is, if he seems fine with people pronouncing it how it works for them, then I don't think it would be an issue for you to just get fairly close and leave it at that, and it might actually be less problematic than trying to get it just right and failing; could come across as mockery, perhaps? But I'm English, not Welsh, and for an English person to try to speak for any Welsh, Irish or Scottish person is roughly as problematic as a white American trying to speak for a native American (and for the same reason; ie, it's not okay to spend hundreds of years trying to slaughter and dominate a particular group and then turn around and act like you totally get them), so please take that with a very hefty pinch of salt!
OMG, Vicious is one of my favorite shows! It’s hilarious!!! 😂 So excited you’re making a video about it 😃🤗 I had no idea his real name is so hard to pronounce. I applaud your attempt here—I don’t think I’d be able to pronounce it anywhere near as well as you just did. Funny that in the first episode the characters are worried they’re not pronouncing his character name “Ash” correctly! 😄 Imagine if they had to call him Iwan Rheon! I think you could just give your attempt like you did here and then just refer to him as You-in from then on.
Google Translate has a different yet easier pronunciation.
I think it comes down to how he’d want you to pronounce it. He seems pretty chill about it if you don’t go full Welsh?
Oh Vicious is grest. It's a shame it was a short show.
The croissant pronunciation, I died 😂 I have that problem when ordering a gyro. I always anglicize food… But for names, I’d say give it your best Welsh try!
I love your podcasts! I'm 77, older than you, but you take me back to my youth. That wasn't great, but I'm still nostalgic.