All of Ulster's a Stage

The Ulster Dialect Archive

The Ulster Language and Dialect Archive showcases the linguistic diversity of Ulster. Irish Gaelic, Ulster-Scots and Hiberno-English are all well-represented in research, recordings, surveys, papers and publications spanning decades.  

The Archives took form in the 1950s, when members of the Belfast Naturalists’ Field Club began a project to compile an Ulster Dialect Dictionary. G.B. Adams, a Field Club member, suggested the materials gathered be handed over to the Ulster Folk Museum and form the foundations of an Ulster Dialect Archive. 

Shakespeare's As You Like It

G.B. Adams went on to join the Museum as Dialect Archivist in 1964. That April, for the fourth centenary of Shakespeare's birth, he recorded people across Ulster reading one of Shakespeare's most well-known monologues, 'All the World's a Stage' from 'As You Like It'. Each performer's unique reading makes this an invaluable recording that maps the differences in speech across Ulster, in a world on the cusp of mass communication. 

Listen below as the men and women of Ulster take to the stage. 

Tempo, Co. Fermanagh

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Shakespeare recited by Mr. W. N. Brady from Tempo, Co. Fermanagh.

Banbridge, Co. Down

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Shakespeare recited by Mr. H. McClean from Banbridge, Co., Down.

Calhame, Co. Antrim

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Shakespeare recited by Mrs. Banford of Calhame, Co. Antrim.

Drumaness, Co. Down

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Shakespeare recited by Mr. George Kelly of Drumaness, Co. Down.

Cullybackey, Co. Antrim

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Shakespeare recited by Mr. John Wright of Cullybackey, Co. Antrim.

Culloville, Co. Armagh

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Shakespeare recited by Mr. Tom Carragher of Culloville, Co. Armagh. 

Lurgan, Co. Armagh

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Shakespeare recited by Mr. Harry Tipping of Lurgan, Co. Armagh.  

^{To date, we have been unable to locate the speakers for this recording despite every reasonable effort having been made to trace and contact them, we would be keen to get in contact. If you have any information regarding this please contact picture.library@nationalmuseumsni.org}

Shakespeare in Cullybackey

G.B. Adams wrote about this recording for the 17th edition of Ulster Folklife, a journal previously published by the Ulster Folk Museum. Called 'Shakespeare in Cullybackey', Adams was particularly excited about the recording by Mr. John Wright. Wright gave his monologue in his mid-Antrim dialect, resulting in a form of Shakespeare truly unique to Ulster.

Adams transcribed the recording in the journal: 

Aa the world's a stage
And aa the men and weemen merely players.
They hae their ootgoins and their äncomins
And yän maan in his time plays mony pairts,
His ects bein seven ages. At färst the wain,
Gairnin and boakin in his nurse's airms;
Then the whinin schoolboy, wi' his baag
And shinin moarnin face, creepin like snail
Unwullinly tae school. And then the lover
Sighin like furnash, wi' a woeful ballat
Made to his mästress's eye-broo. Then a soadjer,
Full of strange oaths and bairded like a lion,
Jealous in honour, suddent and quäck in quaarel,
Seekin the bubble reputation
Even in the Caannon's mooth. And then the judge
In fair roond belly wi' gid caappon lined,
Wi' eyes severe and baird of formal cut,
Full o' wise sayins and maudern änstances;
And so he plays his pairt. The säxth age shäfts
Äntae the lean and släppered paantaloons,
Wuth spectacles on nose and pootch on side,
His youthfu hose, weel saved, a world too wide
For his shrunk shaanks; and his bäg maanly voice
Turnin again tae childish treble pipes
And whustles in his sound. Laast scene of aa,
Thäat ends thäss strange eventful hästory,
Is dotage and mere oblävion,
Wuthoot teeth, wuthoot eyes, wuthoot taste, wuthoot onythang.

The corresponding map, Adams wrote, was for internal purposes for his work at the Folk Museum. Today, it gives an invaluable insight into the dialects of Ulster, and the work of G.B. Adams in documenting the languages of this island.