Sixty Seconds: Richard Armitage on his ‘tricky’ lockdown, The Hobbit and working as an estate agent before acting

Mandatory Credit: Photo by PICJER/imageSPACE/REX (10404376i) Richard Armitage 'My Zoe' premiere, Arrivals, Toronto International Film Festival, Canada - 07 Sep 2019


The Hobbit star Richard Armitage talks about the challenges of narrating an audiobook (Picture: Rex)


Andrew Williams
Tuesday 22 Sep 2020 10:50 am
The Hobbit star, 49, on narrating audiobooks, dramatic memorabilia and his past as an estate agent.

Had you ever provided the voice of a mouse before your current Beatrix Potter turn?
No, I hadn’t – The Tale Of Two Bad Mice was my first time. That’s one of the nice things about it.

Who were your favourite authors as a child?
Beatrix Potter when I was little – they’re designed for young children as the pictures tell the story. And I love her own story. She was a committed farmer and gave the animals their own personalities, so you imagine this whole other world going on when we’re not looking.

I grew up with CS Lewis, Enid Blyton and Tolkien. I enjoyed the fantasy world.


You’re no stranger to narrating audiobooks…

No, it’s been my main source of occupation since lockdown. I love sitting down with a microphone and starting from page one. Some are challenging, quite intellectual and difficult to read but others are a dream and fly off the page.

I’ve done over 30 now – crime, thrillers, Jeffrey Archer, Ken Follett. I really enjoy it – and I’ve done another seven since lockdown. I did four Agatha Christies at the start of lockdown and I’ve built my own studio at home.

What are the challenges?
You have to imagine you’re reading to one person. I enjoy setting the scene and giving the characters their own accents so that when they disappear from the story for a while, when they come back you know exactly who they are.

And you bear in mind who might be listening – if it’s for a child I’ll speak a little bit slower and exaggerate the sound effects, if it’s a crime thriller you have to chat to the listener as if you’re telling them a story down the pub.

Not every writer writes to be read aloud. How do you get on with that?
I did a 16-hour David Copperfield. Charles Dickens is notorious for long, convoluted sentences. Part of the skill is to rattle it off so it sounds contemporary and people understand what is said.

I try to make sure I communicate the story in a really easy way – most people listen when they’re driving or going for a run.

How was lockdown for you?
Tricky. Actors can’t do our work without an audience. I can work from home to an extent but I need a live interaction with another person to make my job work.


Are you concerned about the future of theatre?

I am. I was in a production of Uncle Vanya, which got pulled off when lockdown started. We’re hoping to restage the last six weeks of the run. Socially distanced audiences can’t sustain a production so theatre probably won’t return until next year.

Every live gig has been cancelled – music, theatre, comedy – and it has a massive knock-on effect on the bars and restaurants around those venues. Every city has a hub like that. We’re all desperate to get back to work.

Should the government extend furlough schemes to those in performing arts?
I’d like to see the more vulnerable industries supported – we can’t go back to work in the theatre and other people such as musicians can’t work either.

Those individuals need to be assisted or there won’t be anything coming back – people will have had to take different careers.

What role has had the biggest impact on your career?
Thorin Oakenshield in The Hobbit – it was such a global success and three films came out over three years so it was a sustained period of visibility. But I was so buried in prosthetics, people don’t always know it was me in that role.

It took me around the globe and enabled me to work on other things. It was an incredible experience.

Despite being unrecognisable, you still got work from it?
Definitely. If you’ve been in a trilogy of films that have made Hollywood studios a lot of money, you find yourself on a list of people that smaller productions can use to get attention for their films.


Did you keep any souvenirs from The Hobbit?
I kept one of the swords. It’s a beast. It’s on a shelf in my living room.


You were an estate agent while at drama school. Should people go into that industry if they find themselves unemployed in the recession?
I can’t say I’d recommend it. I don’t know what the housing market is like at the moment. The positive side was that I got to meet a lot of people but I wouldn’t want to go back to it.

I’d prefer to do something more artistic. It’s not for everyone.

Any unfulfilled career ambitions?
I’m going down the producing path. I still want to be in the production I’m producing. I’m looking for roles I can play but eventually I’d want to produce things and not have to act in them.

Also, I spend my life reading and I’d like to write something before I die.

The new audio edition of Beatrix Potter: The Complete Tales is out now

Chloë Rose@ChloeRose1702
·
22. Sep.

Fab interview in @MetroUK with @RCArmitage to celebrate our new edition of Beatrix Potter: The Complete Tales, which is out now! Perfect to have the audiobook master interviewed on #LoveAudio week.

Auch wenn das jetzt bürokratisch und ewig-gestrig klingt: Schade, dass das gezielte Scannen/Abfotografieren von Printartikeln für RANet & co der Vergangenheit angehört.