My Richard Armitage: An interpretation. Background, childhood, adolescence, professional preparation, young adulthood

The preface explains what this text is — not conventional professional biography, but rather my interpretation of Richard Armitage’s biography. If you wish to read a professional biography, please consult this one at Richard Armitage Online — it is thoughtful, filled with data, cites its sources methodically, and is simply the best thing available.

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Earliest picture of Richard Armitage that I’ve seen.

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I. Background

[Right: Huncote village, in the distance. Source.]

Richard Armitage’s family background (partially in Leeds) is neither high cultural nor upper class — ancestors up to grandparents’ generation include cotton mill weavers and coal miners. Parents were probably born during the war years or shortly thereafter and experienced postwar rationing / shortages / aftermath in childhood, as well as growth in postwar prosperity. Father anchors the family in the middle class with his education and highly technical profession (nuclear engineering) and reads and enjoys middle-brow culture. Mother from south of England. Family settles in a village outside of Leicester, where neither parent comes from, presumably to be closer to father’s work. Armitage’s birth and childhood fall in the 1970s and early 1980s, a period of relative economic difficulty in the UK as postwar growth trails off and the expenses of the social welfare state become more onerous. Early social / political atmosphere  — public workers’ strikes, inflation — may convey need to work hard to succeed, a lesson congruent with values of middle-class parents later described by Armitage as “very conservative.” Armitage’s later comments sketch in the outlines of “conservative” as more of a worldview than a politics — frugality; waiting to buy things as a rejection of the “have it now” consumerist push on middle-class incomes typical of the period; unwillingness to call attention to themselves in public; and reserve with regard to discussion of financial or sexual matters. He will mention that he inherits stubbornness from his mother and a conviction that he’s right from his father. Parents watch the Queen’s Speech and family attends church at Christmastime. Mother works initially as homemaker; Armitage remembers value she places on healthy eating during his childhood. At the same time, the family can be broadly placed in the context of changing social circumstances. The 1970s in the UK saw a wave of middle-class families joining the UK property ladder (including the Armitages) due to changing lending rules; the 70s were also the decade of female emancipation par excellence (Margaret Thatcher becomes PM in 1979), perhaps facilitating Mrs. Armitage’s entry (return?) to the work force when Armitage is 14, to assist in financing his school fees.

II. Childhood and Adolescence

[Left: The old Brockington College building, Enderby, Leics, constructed in 1957, at the time of its demolition in 2008. Source.]

Armitage is the younger son and younger brother. He has an impressionable personality in that memories stay with him; as an adult, he will not write off childhood perceptions as juvenile. An early mishap gives rise to a lifelong nervousness around water. Parents are attentive — aware of and willing to allocate family financial and time resources to — younger son’s gifts, struggles, interests, personal development, including quite early provision of dancing classes, initially to address pigeon-toes, cello lessons and a cello (not the cheapest instrument), and gifts the adult Armitage remembers as thoughtful and the sort of thing he was likely to enjoy (roller skates that he played on for more than a year, a “Summer Nights” 45 from the Grease sound track that he replayed “endlessly”). Imaginatively mischievous (draws hair on his chest with magic marker), but not disobedient or criminal (stole chewing gum once as a child). Physically adventurous. Experiences normal childhood accidents (breaks collarbone running after ice-cream truck). Not cast in leading roles in school nativity plays, one of various data points that suggest a childhood managed by flying under the radar rather than mugging for attention or seeking to distinguish himself to teachers. A reader who self-describes later as “solitary,” with a preference for fiction / science fiction / fantasy stories. As a child and preteen, enjoys Roald Dahl, Tolkien, Dr. Who. Remembers watching plays at school, Saturday cartoons and children’s shows, as well as reading popular magazines, with pleasure; will look back to memories of silly games with his family at Christmas and notes that Vicar of Dibley is exactly the sort of piece his family would have watched. Good pupil when it comes to matters of high interest or talent; not good at mathematics; takes French; described by a fellow pupil as fun-loving, a minor mischief-maker, and smart but not “a swot.” My suspicion — smart and curious but not highly motivated in the ways that the top academic students usually are, possibly willing to work sufficiently to satisfy teachers but lacking strong desire to excel either in order to please them or in order to meet own desires, which are not very exactly formulated. Plays in youth orchestra, perhaps sowing seeds of later love of both classical and atmospheric modern and modernist music. Armitage’s parents take his preteen interests and talents very seriously, allowing son to pursue vocational / arts schooling as opposed to pushing him onto a more academic track, to which he may not have been well suited. (One suspects this decision might have been difficult for a university-educated engineer to make.) At the same time, the seeds of the autotelic personality are there in the form of still inchoate dreams. The adult Armitage describes himself as pestering his mother to support the goal of attending a stage school and his parents as supportive of his aspirations but not pushy.

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Picture of Richard Armitage while at Pattison College (center image in banner) with Miss Pat.

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Armitage experiences a sudden growth spurt to adult height during the summer he was 14, ending external perceptions of him as a child before, upon adult reflection, he may have been entirely ready. A mildly ambivalent rebel as a teenager — makes plans to draw attention to himself and then retreats from and/or regrets them. Aware of his own dreams and aspirations and capable of showing persistence in pursuing them, although drive is balanced by shyness / nervousness about being observed and judged negatively. One suspects, given later statements about his appearance, and vehement rejection of designations of sexual attractiveness, that he was teased, perhaps mercilessly on occasion, about his appearance and pronounced nose and ears. Auditions successfully as an early teen for Pattison College, a school that sells itself as educating disciplined and team-oriented workers for the stage. Shows sufficient talent to obtain a Local Authority scholarship for school fees, and later, a scholarship to pay for ballet lessons. While there, Armitage is heavily influenced by Miss Pat, found of the school and still an influential teacher, who enforces high standards, and who has the gift of helping students learn to set high standards for themselves. Boards during the week with the Pattisons, so closely exposed to their values. Lessons regarding work ethic, punctuality, manners, etc. from 1970s-80s political/economic atmosphere and parents reinforced by school and early professional experiences, which emphasize punctuality, cooperation, improving one’s own behavior and performances in order to please / satisfy. A lesson of particular importance in this period from Miss Pat: take every opportunity you can — a stance that must have caused a fair amount of productive tension with Armitage’s shyness. Begins to internalize own standards and habit of measuring his performances against them — enhanced by the strict discipline of the school, which forces him to excel and occasionally causes him to fidget, but on the whole reinforces his childhood tendency to fly under the radar and avoid confrontation.

Armitage is remembered with positive sentiment by schoolmates from this period whose notes to him show up here and there on the web, on social media sites and in article comment sections, years later. Mentions an early, intense, non-physical friendship with a girl, a fellow student, in this period. Appears as a dancer on stage in the background of local professional and amateur productions. Later describes his first stage role as an elf in the Alexandra Theatre in Birmingham, although accounts vary on dates (at 11, or after entering at Pattison College). No interest in athletic competition, but enters and wins dance competitions. Follows Michael Jackson’s career (perhaps not simply because Jackson was the international dance icon of the mid-1980s, but also because of the presence of a noted Pattison alumna in Jackson’s ambit, thus providing a dreamy boy with a concrete and potentially realizable form for his ambitions) and tries to imitate him — something he admits ruefully later, noting that he had the requisite hat and the gloves. Enjoys architectural drawing and woodwork / building things. Switches instruments from cello to flute, at which he is better but which he enjoys less. Continues interest in reading; enjoys reading and television drama with science fiction / post-apocalyptic themes. Develops a taste for Latin dance music and will later describe his best dance as the Argentine tango. By own account, first experience of sexual intercourse in a tent (sexy) at age 17 (possibly a little late — he later described himself as eager to shed the label of “virgin,” in any case) to a female classmate who announces it to their comrades the next day (embarrassing / humiliating). Leaves school with A-levels in music and English, as well as numerous dance and speech qualifications.

III. Young Adulthood and Professional Preparation

[Left: Richard Armitage in Annie Get Your Gun (1990). Source: RichardArmitageNet.com]

Shortly after leaving school, Armitage joins a circus that plays in Budapest in order to obtain Equity card, just as eastern Europe is raising the Iron Curtain, which he notes but is not a central moment of his memories of the experience. Remembers this episode with varying degrees of enthusiasm depending on mood and context of question when asked — and he will be asked often. Common theme of his multiple recountings include need for an Equity card and the perceived larkish quality of the experience as a reason for the decision. Positive takeaways including getting the credential, learning about performing to an empty house, seeing new things; negative takeaways include nervousness about unknown / feelings of isolation, unpleasant living conditions, pay, and skepticism about the artistic value of the production. (He will revisit the circus — out of curiosity — during Robin Hood filming, and recognize the part he had played in the work of a different performer). At roughly the same time (either slightly before or upon return from Hungary), Armitage does some study in England for a university course in literature or English. Subject matter includes Victorian novels — but is this also where he encounters John Fowles for the first time? While he values literature and culture, he develops most quickly as an experiential / somatic and visual rather than book learner and apparently does not complete that degree. Focuses on pursuing career in musical theater and makes a promising start despite his height, appearing in several important productions as well as working as an assistant to a noted choreographer. Later statements by Armitage that he was acceptable as a dancer and singer belie the relative speed with which he made it into the casts and onto the stages of ongoing West End productions; if he was perhaps too tall to headline, he must have worked at a very high level of competence. Shyness seems to relate primarily to new and unfamiliar situations, strangers, and does not preclude making friends — he is sufficiently social among friends in casts in which he participates to photographed candidly. Dances for fun as well as work and enjoys London club scene. At this stage, any artistic and personal ambitions remain in tension with continued shyness / quietness / reticence — which he will later deny is an indication that he is aloof from what is happening around him, a judgment that seems to pain him in retrospect. A bigger problem may be disparity between actual skills and perceived level of confidence in displaying them to others. Is initially not in a hurry to grow up and is willing to accept consequences of unknown status / precarious employment arrangements (driving father’s old car, odd jobs he does not like). At the same time, he shows a scrappy initiative, pursuing and expanding his practical experience with the nuts and bolts of television sets by appearing as an extra; Boon is one he will mention later.

[Right: Richard Armitage at the time of his appearance in Cats (1995)]

Armitage understudies several roles in Cats, his greatest achievement in musical theater. Extremely dependable, he never calls in sick. Viewing of limited rehearsal video available suggests a dance style in which Armitage is integrated in the ensemble and working effectively with others, but at the same time dreamily lost in his own experience, almost as if shutting out the audience. Experiences fundamental shift in artistic / professional focus around 1993/4 — marked by strong disappointment when understudying fails to lead to a permanent role in Cats after a decisive audition; frustration with a cheesy Sarah Brightman music video in which he dances the role of seaweed; and elation or epiphany after seeing Midsummer Night’s Dream in Stratford. Much later, Armitage cites as additional reasons for the shift wanting to work with texts and concerns that musical theater is too self-consciously performative. Begins pursuing speaking roles on stage and enters drama school at LAMDA. Strong belief evident that he must earn his way; finances own education in part with wages from Cats engagement. The wake of disappointment over Cats possibly marks the beginning point of more active and concentrated contemplation of what sort of adult he wishes to be — matters involving morals, ethics, philosophy of being and action for the person living in contemporary society. These issues are also explored narratively in authors that will become favorites of his, such as J.G. Ballard and Fowles, and which drama school education will give him the opportunity to continue to explore.

Enters LAMDA at twenty-five (not twenty-one, as often reported in the press) to study acting in classical theater. Education focuses on development of intuition, instinct, interpretive skill and range, but also on preparation for technical skills in different fields of performance. Armitage will remember, internalize, and mention important themes of these courses, including lessons in the spectrum of voice, moving the vocal instrument from speaking toward singing; instructions to think about what characters dream of doing when they are old; and questions about what characters might do if they suddenly found themselves in unexpected situations. Training brings out an innate interest in both story and characterization as elements of acting, and Armitage pours a particular amount of energy into developing his skills in the latter regard. Because of characterization, he enjoys the ensemble elements of acting — perhaps this preference develops out of aesthetic concerns in relationship to improving his acting, but it’s also not implausibly a hedge against shyness or nervousness. One intuits the possibility of a sort of transition in the quality and use of his shyness occurring in this period — not only a reaction to personal discomfort, but also potentially a coping skill for dealing with the constant personal and status negotiations involved in performances, so that habits like silence, hanging back, not being the first to broach a topic or grasp the initiative in personal interactions (and so on) constitute not simply an emotional reaction or a stance justifiable in ethical terms, but even more a personal style that means Armitage will not choose in professional situations to make his personality take up more than its fair share of space. While he later expresses ambivalence about the designation of “Method” actor, preferring to call himself eclectic in approach, certain later attitudes, particularly about the role of costume and the excavation of one’s own memories and experiences, point to thinking from this school as a pronounced element in his training.

Casting agents are invited to LAMDA student productions — is it here that Armitage makes his connection to United Agents, or later? Armitage is cast with good roles in several student productions, as well as incongruous ones, but also criticized strongly by at least one tutor for overacting and encouraged to expand his intellectual world by reading more difficult literature in preparation for roles (Crime and Punishment, a reading experience undertaken in service of a role in a school production of Macbeth that remains with him for a long time). Still playful in his off hours; still enjoys live music and karaoke; still enjoys spending time with friends; still working at jobs that he finds tedious or worse. Armitage states later that his longest romantic relationship to date, which he later describes as off and on, and about being open and vulnerable and exploring who he was in the drama school atmosphere, occurs in this period. Ends LAMDA with appearance as extra in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, which is not the first professional event in Armitage’s career that suggests evidence of a capacity to put himself in the right place at the right time, if not always to capitalize, and a greater or more intense level of artistic ambition than his developing ethics might allow him to state openly.

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Proposed edits I would make as of 6/9/13:

• After discussion (see comments), I conclude that there’s no necessary evidence that Armitage’s father was university-educated. As a result, I retract my hypothesis about potential difficulties experienced by university educated in allowing children to pursue non-academic tracks.
• Numerous, repeated and conflicting statements by Armitage during press blitz of November / December 2012-January 2013 complicated the timeline of his association with the book and play of The Hobbit. Based on frequency of different versions he told of this story, I am now postulating three steps — Armitage was read it aloud in primary school; read it again for himself at some point later as a pre-teen, when it grabbed his imagination, possibly in conjunction with performing in the play; and was eleven when participating in the stage play of The Hobbit in Birmingham. Assuming his humorous statement at the memorial service for Betty Pattison is correct; that is, that she owed him money for a performance, it is thus reasonable to conclude that Armitage’s connection to the Pattisons preceded his enrollment with the school by several years. Perhaps he encountered them during his dance classes  in dance / performance circles while still at elementary school or Brockington College, and was encouraged to enroll at Pattison College for further training. If so, this would answer the question of how Armitage knew enough about Pattisons to pester his mother to let him enroll there.
• Per statement by Darren Denison in spring 2013, when he met Armitage in 1999, Armitage was represented by prestigious representation: “PFD” (Peters, Fraser & Dunlop). Richard Armitage thus almost certainly had his first agent by the time he left LAMDA. Duncan Millership was one of the agents who left PFD in 2007 to found United Agents (moving from there to Management 360 in Los Angeles in January 2010, where Armitage also listed himself as managed, and subsequently to WME in November 2011, where Armitage is currently on the roster of clients).

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To Part IV-V.

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All text © Servetus at me + richard armitage, 2012. Please credit when using excerpts and links. Images and video copyrights accrue to their owners.

~ by Servetus on November 17, 2012.