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Audible Live with Richard Armitage (17/12/20)

Update: Transcription now available under cut!

Hi listeners! I’m Audible editor Katie O’Connor, and I’m so excited to be talking today with stage and screen actor and beloved audiobook narrator Richard Armitage. Richard has performed dozens of audiobooks, including the recent releases of Agatha Christie’s The Mysterious Affair at Styles and The Murder on the Links in the US, and his festive performance of Charles Dickens’ classic The Chimes. Richard, thank you so much for being here today.

Thanks for having me. Hi everyone, nice to be here.

How are you doing?

Good, good. Getting to grips with technology *laugh*

*Laugh* I know! You and I are both in our homes right now, so this is all very 2020. Thank you listeners for bearing with us. So I wanted to start off by talking about your recent Agatha Christie performances. You share such a special story at the opening of The Mysterious Affair at Styles, and I was wondering if you could talk a bit more about that for this audience.

Yes. Uh... I have to remember the story that I told because I think there are four little anecdotes that I, that I tell for each of the - the stories, because they all had something kind of special and personal to me. But I think the one you’re referring to is about my mum. Um... now this became a little bit of a um... a kind of family legend that my mum used to, um, live in Oxfordshire and her mother took care of an old lady who lived in, uh, in a house called Winterbrook. Um, and my mum used to play in the- in the garden, uh, and she would see uh... somebody in the window and she would sort of run away scared and then her and her- I’ve got a picture on my wall here actually of my mum doing a headstand on a cushion with her, her best friend - and they never knew who the old lady was who lived in the house. And years later she found out that uh, that it was actually Agatha Christie. But over the years the story has become embellished in our family so that, uh, it’s turned into my mum actually breaking into the house and giving her ideas. Giving her story ideas *laugh*

*Laugh* The inspiration behind-

As the years go by, yeah, we slightly embellish the story. But I just love the idea that this was - this was much later in her life, and I think she was still writing, but um, just a very quiet, calm, unassuming lady that would have seen these two little girls playing in the garden, one of whom was my mum.

That’s amazing. And, and as you sort of had to - I’m sure quite the dinner party story as well.

Yeah it is, yeah. Very much.

Were you intimidated at all, taking on such an iconic character like Hercule Poirot?

I think um... yeah, of course. You - you know, David Suchet is my kind of Hercule Poirot, and now we have, um, Kenneth Branagh who’s doing, y’know, great motion picture - like a big uh, much bigger, glossier version. I - I’m kind of keeping those, those two characters in my head, but at the same time, uh... I’ve gone through the source material. I- I- I’ve read Agatha Christie and I just loved this character. Y’know he’s so kind of cheeky and naughty, and incredibly intelligent, and so, um, I just thought ‘I’ll take a little bit of - of, uh, what I’ve received over the years from the performances and then bring a little bit of my own, uh, je ne sais quoi to the, to the work *laugh*

You did a beautiful job, and y’know, something that’s so particular to Agatha Christie is that she really sets up her stories by introducing you to so many characters, or I should say suspects, right off the bat and you do a wonderful job of giving each of them their own distinct traits. And I was wondering if you had any tricks or tools that you use to help you keep track of those different vocal characterisations as you’re performing.

I um... I do make notes on the very first read when I’m prepping the book. So - because I think it’s one of the things that every author does, is when they have a character enter their story, they, they really take care over how they’re presented. So I try to really understand the, the very first impression and create a voice purely without my kind of interpretation of it, just from what I think the author was suggesting. So I do make a lot of notes, because those first impressions are really valuable and you do need to go back to them. And really, with Agatha Christie, she - most of her characters are never who they seem at the beginning. There’s, there’s always like a... a hidden personality, or no one’s quite, y’know, who they say they are. Um, but one of the - one of the funny things that I, that I had, was when I did the um, Murder on the Links, I sort of sat down to read it and I thought “Oh, great, we’re- we’re- we’re sort of in Northern France”, um, and then I realised - *laugh* - as we were going along that there were - “Oh, there’s a Frenchman”, and then, “Oh, there’s another Frenchman. Oh actually, there’s about five frenchmen”. I only have one French accent *laugh*

*Laugh*

And unfortunately, I mean, I’d given it to Hercule Poirot, even though he’s Belgian, uh...

Right.

*Laugh* I, I started to realise “how on Earth am I gonna differentiate between a complete cast of French characters?”, because I don’t have regional French accents. I just really have the one. So I - I started to work on tone and speed and personality traits that, that associate with a character. And that is really to do with just writing down, uh, who they are and how - how I feel about them, whether I like them, whether I find them annoying, whether they’re the hero, the heroine, the villain. And then, uh, you kind of weave the tapestry from there.

Do you have them on hand the whole time you’re going, just to sort of, y’know, keep that fresh?

I - yeah, I have the, I sort of have the detailed notes, but then I’ll just make like a little abbreviation on the page so I know exactly who it is, because sometimes the names are quite similar as well. So you can get a bit confused.

Yes, especially when there’s formalities, and all of a sudden everyone is “Mr. So-and-so” and y’know, they’re brothers, and you’re like “Wait, which...?”

Yeah, and especially in the period which she’s writing, because she’s writing about the upper classes and the working classes, and she herself is - is almost writing stereotypes. And not stereotypes really, she’s writing archetypes and she’s really enjoying them. And y’know, it’s what we love about Agatha Christie is that we know the formula. We know that there will be a huge gathering at the end when all of the suspects are in the room, and the lead detective, whether it’s Poirot or Marple, will basically pull them apart and reveal who the villain is. It’s one of the reasons we - we love them so much. So I think Agatha Christie likes to blur, to blur the field a bit, so that we, we mistake people for, for, for the, y’know, other people.

Yeah.

She’s clever.

I’ve, I’ve always loved her work so much. You’re- y’know, speaking of sort of that sort of blending, you’re very much a chameleon as a narrator. And my co-worker Trish I thought said it really well - every genre that you do, it feels like you were made specifically for that genre. Y’know, whether it be classics or mysteries or romance - is there one that you gravitate more towards as a performer?

That’s a really good question, actually. I’ve - I feel like I’m asked to do quite a lot of crime drama or, um, period drama. Um... which I really enjoy. As a personal reader, for my own pleasure, I, I suppose I’m more drawn to political intrigue. Uh, and much more contemporary. And science fiction. I really, uh, I mean when I studied my English A-Level, which is sort of advanced learning in, in, uh, England, I um... I was given a book of science fiction short stories and I remember thinking, “Wow, this is great. This - this doesn’t feel like work at all”. Um, but I’ve yet to - to sort of be, to, to record any audio of, of science fiction. But yeah, I um... it is slightly different to what, what I’m asked to do professionally, and what I - what I read for pleasure. There, there is a slight difference, yeah.

A disconnect there, yeah. And y’know, you say you haven’t done science fiction yet, and I also don’t think you’ve done fantasy yet either, and I was curious given your acting background with The Hobbit if you had interest in that genre as well, in exploring fantasy.

Yeah, I mean one of the very first audiobooks that I ever did, was - I did for the Robin Hood books. I was actually working on a tv show of Robin Hood and they wanted to do audio adaptations based on our series. And so I thought, “Oh, this is great. I - I can just do impressions of all of my fellow cast members *laugh* and sort of slot them into an audiobook”. But I - I didn’t really have a sort of sense of what, what kind of style or tone I was gonna do, and so I, I picked Stephen Fry as a reader that I, and have since, upheld as my like, ultimate audiobook narrator. And I think he was reading either The Hobbit or The Lord of the Rings, I can’t remember. But he became the benchmark for me of, of the kind of storyteller I wanted to be - that sense of familiarity in his voice, the way he welcomes you in. Uh, the way he feels like - it feels like he’s speaking to you personally. And y’know, I, as a fantasy reader, I was obsessed with Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit as a kid. So y’know, it was like the perfect marriage for me. So a lot of my inspiration for everything I’ve done since has come from Stephen.

Yeah.

Um, but on a - on a personal desire to explore fantasy, there, there is a series of books that I’m - I’ve had my eye on for a while. Uh... I don’t know whether - not necessarily as a narrator, but maybe as something that I could develop into a tv show, and it’s a series by Garth Nix. Uh, the Abhorsen series, the first book is called Sabriel, and it’s about a necromancer. And I just think that it’s brilliant, it’s - it’s so, um, kind of in my lane, it’s very kind of dark and it’s - I mean, for a, for a young adult fiction it’s really dark. But at the same time kind of magical, and, and a bit kind of a comment on life, so uh... yeah, that, that uh, does trigger me. When I read that with my eyes, I think “Yeah, this does need to be spoken aloud”.

That’s amazing. I feel like we’re going to get some fan forums going now, to get uh *laugh* to make that a reality.

Yeah, that would be great, wouldn’t it.

Another wonderful performance of yours is The Chimes by Charles Dickens. And it’s one of Dickens’ Christmas stories, although a bit dark at times, but it has a very timely message about compassion. And I was curious what your holiday season is looking like this year.

Uh... gosh. Well, actually it’s funny you should bring up The Chimes because he wrote it quite soon after A Christmas Carol, so it feels like, um, it feels like he’s developing an idea that he started with A Christmas Carol. And of course we all, y’know, love and go to A Christmas Carol at this time of year because it gives us that, that sense of humanity that Dickens was talking about. And I - I do feel like right now in our world there is, there is a sense of um, it having been a really, really difficult year for a lot of people, and possibly next year is gonna be as hard. And it - that books reminds me of what it takes to be a philanthropist, what it takes to help people that are falling through the net. That - that’s what Dickens was writing about. Um, so for me on a - on a personal level, my Christmas will be really quite reduced. I’ve - I’ve been doing all I can over the past two weeks to just make sure that I’m - I’m isolated from people so that I can go and visit my father, um, without seeing anyone else. It’s - so I would say it’s a small Christmas. Maybe it would be a Dickensian Christmas. *Laugh* I think I’ll be doing - y’know, I won’t be indulging in, in kind of, gluttony so much maybe just, y’know, listening to some music, watching a good film.

Yeah.

Zooming with some friends *laugh*

It sounds nice though, and I think too it - to your point about sort of quarantine yourself so that you can go see your dad, it does help people focus to a certain extent on what matters the most at this time of year. Y’know, being around your father, others might be seeing a certain friend or loved one which they haven’t seen in a while, and just doing what you can do to make that a reality within our current reality.

I think so, and I - y’know, again, it’s - to, to think that Dickens was writing so long ago and, well, over a hundred, a hundred and twenty years ago, I mean I forget - it’s, he’s a Victorian writer, so he’s writing about a world that we can’t imagine and yet we open it now and think “Well, actually there are people who effectively would end up in a Victorian workhouse”. Which um, is, is not something we should entertain in century and uh... I think mindfulness is probably the word that I, that I would put forward as to what kind of Christmas I’m gonna have. I’m gonna have a mindful Christmas hopefully.

I love that. I’m going to steal that. A mindful Christmas. We have some fan questions for you that I’m going to jump into. Our social team put an ask out on Twitter, and obviously from the Armitage Army we got an overwhelming response. So Sarah wants to know: “It’s time for you to host your local book club. Which book or audiobook would you choose and why?”

Oh, that’s a good question. Um... you know what, I feel like social media is almost like this giant global book club. I feel like people really do kind of enjoy a writer, and kind of come together and discuss it. But to actually sit in a room with people face to face, apart from it being a kind of 2020 luxury anyway, uh... I think I might pick, um, The Jane Austen Society by Natalie Jenner, which was sort of, which was her debut novel, um, surprisingly this year. Uh, because it’s... really about a kind of book club. It’s about a group of people who love Jane Austen, and they come together and they, they sort of heal their social wounds, and they find love, and they kind of learn about each other, and how they protect the legacy of Jane Austen and, and uh... for, for future generations. And I - I would actually love to sit in a room and pick that book apart. I’m uh, I ah... actually had quite a lot of contact with Natalie when I was recording, and afterwards, and I sort of know how - how much that book meant to her and where it came from, and it was a really personal venture for her in her - y’know, with her, with what was going on in her own life. And um, I just love the idea that, that - the fact that it’s been such a good read for people, it’s been cherised. And uh, yeah. It’d be nice to sit around and see how that raises people’s passions because I think - I think it does.

That’s a great choice. I would join that book club *laugh* I would sign up. Uh, the next question is from Dorothea, and she is wondering: one, how you are doing during these pandemic days, but also if you have invented any new habits, like baking your own bread or growing your own vegetables, or is it more just doing things that you’ve always loved to do?

Um... I’ve cut my own hair.

Yes.

Not very successfully.

*laugh*

Um... I’ve learnt how to use all of the technology so that I can actually record audiobooks. I started off in a toilet *laugh* and then, and then ended up in a wardrobe, which was quite interesting *laugh* so I would go-

Nice soundproofing.

I would go to work everyday in a wardrobe. Um, which felt a little bit like Narnia, maybe. Um, but I did, I’ve learnt to cook a little bit I think. I’ve pushed the - the heavy rock of learning how to be a producer up a very steep hill. So I’m, I’m trying to advance that down a road, and I mean that, that has come from this work. So my, my work in, in audio had really stimulated, um, a desire to bridge the gap between what I’m recording and what I’m - what I’m acting on screen. And so I’m finding material to, to develop into screenplays and hopefully to find broadcasters, so it’s been quite a fruitful year, and I - I’ve really decided, y’know in March, when I was stage, uh, we were taken off on a Monday night and sent home. And I, I did think to myself, “You’ve got to come out of this year with something to show for it”, and so all of those things uh, I would add to the, to the toolkit that I, that I found this year, because y’know, I’m a positive person and I just think... you can - you can let it weigh on your shoulders or you can actually just do something about it so... so yeah. It’s been quite fruitful, actually.

That’s amazing. I know that there are so many people that have struggled for various reasons to sort of tap into their creativity this year, but it seems that you’ve been - you’ve really been able to hone in on it, which is amazing.

Well, I also realised as well that, that audiobooks were gonna be quite a, a useful tool for parents that were maybe having to homeschool their kids, and y’know, also work from home. And so um, I reached out to Audible and, and y’know, my, my... Audible in the US and here, and, and asked if there was anything we could do that we could, we could offer for youngsters. So I recorded The Velveteen Rabbit for Audible US, and I, I think I did Peter Pan for the Great Ormond Street Hospital, and some Beatrix Potter. Which I - all of those things, I think the, the tiny little bit of help that you can be to a parent that needs to just, y’know, give their children something to, to do for the afternoon. Because when I was in school I was read to prolifically, and I - I think it’s, it’s quite important y’know, and we’ve - we’ve gotta help everybody.

Well, as a parent to two young kids who have been home this, this year-

Right.

-I thank you for that effort, yes. Richard heard my son freaking out about the snowplow before we-

*Laugh*

*Laugh* -we got on here today. So it’s wonderful for parents all the time. Uh, Chrissy wants to know: What are you reading or listening to just for yourself over the holidays?

Gosh, I,. I actually- *sigh*, I actually don’t get a lot of time to make personal choices about books because y’know, thankfully, most of my work will involve me collecting a library of ‘to read’ books for the job that I’m doing. So at the moment I’m reading Harlan Coben. A lot of Harlan Coben. Um, but I did buy a book back in September that I haven’t quite managed to open yet, and I quite think over the Christmas period I’m gonna - I’m gonna dive, dive into it, and it’s Robert Harris V2. I’m a massive Robert Harris fan, and that’s - that’s what I was talking about when I, when I mentioned contemporary political thriller, because like the great late John le Carré, Robert Harris is that kind of author that completely draws me into his world. He is - he writes about um, a, a fictional world that feels so real, like Fatherland, Archangel, were two of my all-time favourite books, so I cannot wait to - to see what he’s done with V2.

That’s exciting. It’s always nice when your ‘to listen to’ list, or your ‘to be read’ list is growing, ‘cause there is so much great stuff out there.

There is, yeah.

Fran had an interesting craft question for you. She was wondering how do you deal with sudden strong emotions like laughing, crying, or anger while recording. Because in her own experiences, some stories, or just parts of them, make her just laugh or cry so much that she doesn’t think she could, if she was a performer, continue performing in those moments.

Well, I - I mean, that’s great because in a way, that’s the whole point, is that I um, my job is to stimulate the listener or the viewer to really, really feel something for the material that they’re receiving. Um, and again, this is something I’ve learnt over the years, and it is - it is a sort of, um, bone of contention in a way, because between artists that, um, it’s really not my business to feel- I mean you can’t help it, but it’s not my business to feel extreme emotion because it’s my job to carry the story and give it to, to the listener, so that they feel something. So I’m less concerned about what I feel. Or, but I - I have to say, um, when I was reading The Tattooist of Auschwitz there were moments in that story that were really hard to speak, and y’know, you - you push through and it’s, it’s incredibly emotional. And then I asked the producer to play it back and I- you, you have to re-record it because it’s, it’s too much for the listener to, to hear. But also, it can kind of kill something in the listener if, if the reader is, is going through some kind of cathartic experience, the listener stops, stops feeling it because I’m doing it for them. Uh, so we - we went back and re-recorded it, but um, I like it. It uh, it - it means the - it means the piece means a lot to me. I’ve, I’ve had it recently as well with um, the next, the next book that I’ve just - that will be released next year by David Hewson, The - The Garden of Angels-

Yeah.

-which is, it’s a sublime piece of writing, and I - I love David’s work, and I uh, I y’know, connected with him and we’ve had a long conversation about what he, what he wanted to do with this story. And there are moments in that story that, that really kick you in the guts, and so you have to be able to just um... push, push through and do - do it for the reader y’know.

Yeah, yeah. Yes, I loved - you worked together on Romeo and Juliet as well, that-

Yeah.

-that was great. Um, Olga asked the question that seemed to be on a lot of listener’s minds: are there characters from the books that you have narrated that you would like to play?

I mean... I think that every book that I’ve narrated, I will somehow find my role in it.

Yeah.

Which - which sort of anchors me into the story, and it gives me a chance to be narrator and actor in the same story, and then all of the other characters branch off from there. Some of those characters are now manifesting themselves as a - as an actual reality that they might become character that I, that I will play. In fact, I’m gonna say I will play two of the characters that I’ve narrated, and I won’t necessarily tell you which ones, but they are work in progress. Um, but... I would love to play Dr. Gray in uh, The Jane Austen Society. Dr. Gregory in, in the LJ Ross series, which I just - I just love that book, it was - it was brilliant. I mean, there’s - there’s a character in David Hewson’s next book which he immediately identified, and he said, “That’s your role”. Which you can wait and see what it, what it is, but it’s brilliant. And so I, I think, y’know, I have an appetite for great characters, it’s why I’m a storyteller. So when you hone in on the one that you, that you like, it becomes really personal to you. So, uh, yeah. Great question.

I’m excited to hear what those - what those two are coming up as well, but it’s so interesting what you said about David, that once you start to have those kinds of relationships with authors, and then I’m sure as he’s writing, y’know, he’s probably having you in mind even as he’s sort of- *laugh* -doing that development work. I think that’s amazing.

Yeah. It helps.

So I had one more question for you - I was just curious what’s next? I mean, it sounds like it’s a lot *laugh*

Uh, a - a few things have come out of this year, um... more audiobooks, obviously, for 2021. And I’ve got um, I’ve got a little stack of, of waiting projects that - that actually are finished to be waiting writing, so the, the author has to do their work and get them finished.

Yeah.

Um... I’m, I’m about to go and work on a Netflix show called Stay Close, hence reading Harlan Coben. And going through the, the incredible back catalogue of Harlan’s work. I mean, he’s really turning into the American Agatha Christie really, isn’t he? He’s, he’s got a prolific, uh, back catalogue. So that will take - that will take up a large chunk of next year. But I’m also writing. Um...

Oh, wonderful.

Yeah, long form. Which again, it will be a little surprise for 2021. A surprise announcement, probably.

Yeah.

And I - I’m not gonna tell you where it’s gonna find its place, but I - it, it may be that Audible makes that announcement. Who knows.

Very exciting. It sounds like 2021′s going to be your year, it just seems like there’s so much in the pipeline, so as a fan, I’m personally very excited to watch it all unfold.

Well, I mean I’m - I feel so lucky and, and y’know, being able to carry on working, and um, learning how to edit my own audiobooks- *laugh*

*Laugh*

-have been a dream, but I, I can’t wait to- actually, one of the things I think I’ve missed, and we talked about this earlier, is actually getting back in a studio with a producer.

Yeah.

Because the, the readers may- the listeners may not know this, but when we work together, and when I go to uh, a studio to record, and I go into Audible, y’know, it’s like a family of friends that know each other. And I always try to work with the same producers, and we all read the book separately, we come together, we have a discussion about the novel, we discuss characters, we talk about possible voices, what might work, what, what might not work, and I miss that interaction. It’s like having a director of, of sorts. So I’m - I’m really looking forward to next year sitting down with some old friends in a recording studio, and - and getting back to our old habit.

Yeah. Having a - y’know, no pun intended, but having that sounding board there for you as you’re sort of going back, and “Was that okay?”, “Did I - should I try to redo that take?”

I mean, and you can do it on Zoom, it’s fine, but y’know, there’s nothing better than going in, and going - going on your lunch break and sitting down, y’know, with your producer at lunch and talking through what you’re going to do in the afternoon. I mean, I- you know, I really miss that personal connection.

Yeah. Well, fingers crossed that it returns quickly for all of us.

Yeah. It will.

Well, thank you so much for your time today, and I hope you have a wonderful holiday season.

Thank you, you too. And it’s so nice to - to see you again.

I know! Hopefully next time in person *laugh*

Yup, in person.

Uh, but I’ll go to the UK. You don’t have to-

Okay. Yeah, you can come here.

*Laugh* And thank you all so much for tuning in. You can listen to Richard’s wonderful performances right here on Audible.

Thanks for all your questions, and uh, see ya soon.

#richard armitage #audible interview