Minor character Armitage

Having now listened to Sylvester three times in a row straight through, I continue to be struck by the care that Mr. Armitage puts into the voicing of even the most minor characters of Heyer’s novels. This care was one theme of an open fan letter I wrote to him on this site, a long time ago, and it continues to stand out. I’ll have more to say about this work shortly, but I thought it might be fun to poll about which of the minor characters of this work you find the most enjoyable, and for what reasons. I’ve set up polls below for “favorite female minor character” and “favorite male minor character,” and above each poll are youtube embeddings of files of the characters (sorry to do this via video, but wordpress charges money to host mp3s). I’m going to move on later to the major characters (and I realize the line might be somewhat arbitrarily drawn, but hey, I write this blog, so I made the nominations), as well as to a discussion of Armitage’s vocal style.

You might use the comments to justify your vote, or to discuss these voices, or even to protest my selection of nominees. I had no idea there were such vehement fans of these works until I mentioned having listened to them on my car trip — so I’m interested to read your opinions.

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Nominated for “favorite female minor character as voiced by Richard Armitage” are the following (in order of appearance in the work):

1. Lady Marlow, the second wife of Phoebe’s father. Here, she informs Phoebe that Sylvester is coming to visit with the intention of making her father an offer for her hand:

2. Susan, Phoebe’s younger half-sister. Here, she reacts to Phoebe’s news that Sylvester will be offering for her hand:

3. Alice Scaling, the daughter and serving maid at the Blue Boar, where Phoebe and Tom are stranded after their accident. Here, her prediction about what will happen when the neighborhood discovers that a duke is staying at the establishment:

4. Lady Sefton, a presiding member of the ton. Here, her reaction after reading Phoebe’s roman à clef, The Lost Heir:

And here’s the poll.

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Nominated for “favorite male minor character as voiced by Richard Armitage” are the following, again in order of appearance.

1. John Keighley, Sylvester’s middle-aged groom. Here, he works on Tom’s broken leg:

2. Horwich, Lady Ingham’s somewhat-too-decorous butler. Here, his reaction to Phoebe’s untimely arrival in Green Street:

3. Nugent Fotherby, Ianthe’s fiancé and then husband. Here, he welcomes Tom and Phoebe aboard the channel ship for Calais:

4. Edmund, Sylvester’s rambunctious nephew. Here, his justification for why Phoebe must come with them, back to England:

And here’s the poll.

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Happy Birthday month Richard Armitage! In honor of this event, consider donating your time, energy, and thoughts / prayers to an effort that’s meaningful to you. If you need a suggestion, here’s a link to Mr. Armitage’s recommended charities at JustGiving, as well as a link to means of generating a charity contribution on his behalf at RichardArmitageOnline.com, and a link to Act!onAid, a child sponsorship organization for which he recorded a voiceover in December 2010. Donate to Christchurch Earthquake Appeal here.

~ by Servetus on August 10, 2011.