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How should Shakespeare really sound?

Inspired by working with Kevin Spacey, Sir Trevor Nunn has claimed that American accents are "closer" than contemporary English to the accents of those used in the Bard's day.

The eminent Shakespearean scholar John Barton has suggested that Shakespeare's accent would have sounded to modern ears like a cross between a contemporary Irish, Yorkshire and West Country accent.

Others say that the speech of Elizabethans was much quicker than it is in modern day Shakespeare productions.

Well, now you can judge for yourself ...

It doesn't sound remotely like any American I've ever heard.

How should Shakespeare really sound?

Inspired by working with Kevin Spacey, Sir Trevor Nunn has claimed that American accents are "closer" than contemporary English to the accents of those used in the Bard's day.

The eminent Shakespearean scholar John Barton has suggested that Shakespeare's accent would have sounded to modern ears like a cross between a contemporary Irish, Yorkshire and West Country accent.

Others say that the speech of Elizabethans was much quicker than it is in modern day Shakespeare productions.

Well, now you can judge for yourself ...

It doesn't sound remotely like any American I've ever heard.

All those clips in isolation show nothing of the way that Shakespeare should really sound. Back in Elizabethan times dialects were much more pronounced and even more localised. The average persons knowlege of his surrounding areas was limited by how far they could walk in a day ...... so 10 miles or there abouts. Dialects would have been restricted to these areas and evidence of that can still be seen in rural areas. Only the educated and rich or drovers/traveling players would have travelled outwith their local areas as they had access to horses. They would stand out in other areas because of their localised accents/dialects.
It's only since the age of more affordable transport that dialects and accents have become less pronounced.

Be grateful chaps, if it was put into modern English it'd probably read like this...