My Richard Armitage: An interpretation. Early career to North & South

Here are links to Preface (explains what this series is) and Part I (covering Richard Armitage’s family background, childhood, adolescence, young adulthood, and early professional experiences and training).

This piece is my interpretation of what I know about Armitage, a picture drawn by me from my personal standpoint. In contrast: for an excellent, nuanced, thoughtful description of Richard Armitage that focuses on the stations of Armitage’s career and the conventional themes of professional biography, please consult this one at Richard Armitage Online.

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IV. Early Career to North & South

[Right: Richard Armitage in rehearsal for Hamlet at the Birmingham Rep (1998). Source: RichardArmitageNet.com]

Richard Armitage’s sojourn at LAMDA is followed by the overwhelming scale of the set experience for Star Wars (at first overwhelming, then fascinating to the young actor) and then by a year of stage roles, notably at the Birmingham Rep. The next step is an engagement with the Royal Shakespeare Company, which initially excites (finally — a long professional engagement, doing Shakespeare) and eventually frustrates (short roles; productions that the audience does not appear to enjoy). Building or sustaining a romantic relationship fades in interest as he focuses on career success. The episodic relationship he referred to as occurring in his LAMDA years and relating to his identity at that time ends; a brief relationship with a member of the RSC stage crew succeeds it. Studies for formal qualification in stage fighting. Volunteers in RSC school workshops because of his enjoyment of productions at Stratford seen during his own education; in a similar vein, Armitage will later become a patron of a project to bring students to the Globe Theater. In the atmosphere of a very high cultural institution, one of Armitage’s central values in performance emerges more clearly in his own self-awareness: shared enjoyment between actors and audiences. Engagement in small and then supporting stage roles, however, suggest his path to professional prominence may not lead through classical theater. Ongoing, mostly unarticulated artistic ambition and awareness that his talents are underutilized in “spear carrying” remain for the short term balanced out by enjoyment of ensemble work and lack of aggressive drive to lead or “killer instinct.” Ability to continue on this path suggests a number of personality elements and attitudes: a serious commitment to the aesthetic values and institutions of classical theater, a high tolerance for uncertainty, a dogged determination to keep at it, a willingness to tolerate dissatisfaction, a markedly high capacity to go along to get along, a nagging need for approval from authoritative sources — but perhaps also an awareness that the reasons for professional attention are often highly arbitrary, given the (in retrospect embarrassing) attention he receives from Japanese fans of Star Wars when touring there in the RSC Macbeth, as well as the ongoing enjoyment of youthful pleasures in London and environs and a feeling of being younger than his chronological age.

[Left: Richard Armitage, from the program for the RSC’s The Duchess of Malfi (2000), the production where he meets and makes friends with Liza Franks. Source: RichardArmitageNet.com]

The end of the RSC engagement is followed, after brief and minor — though credited — film appearances, by a professional dry spell (reported variously as eight or eighteen months in different interviews, although no eighteen-month gap is visible in his CV). Lack of work causes Armitage to feel “down” and to become weary of conversations in which he’s asked why he’s not working. He remains very nervous before auditions, reports later that he did not experience “blind faith” in his own talents. Growing awareness, expressed to his agent, that he may have missed the takeoff point for the type of acting career he wishes to pursue. Frustration with lack of success and continuing or intensifying dislike of work done to pay the bills, however, are countered by personal conviction that he has no other marketable job skills.

Armitage persists. Keeps reading and exploring. Does handyman work for friends to fill his time and wallet. Works in front-of-house jobs in theater, giving him the opportunity to look at the venue from a different angle and understand why people come there. Takes acting classes to keep his skill in shape and experiences breakthrough in a class taught by an American director in terms of touching or releasing emotional core of sentiments that are “not civilized” while acting — an experience that convinces him that he does have the necessary capacities (“instrument” — interesting as it’s a typical vocalist’s or musician’s metaphor) it takes to be successful. Possibly the period of unemployment contributes to ongoing contemplation of matters related to rewards / skill / luck /self-centering, providing him with productive ethical self-talk that he explicitly articulates subsequently in his career. Later statements also point to casual awareness / exploration of Buddhism that I am tempted to root in this period of struggle for acknowledgement and explanations for what’s (not) happening as well as acceptable response to circumstance. Acknowledgement of the necessity of luck in building a professional reputation conditioned by adult struggles remains balanced, however, by ongoing meritocratic conviction from other and earlier contexts about the significance of hard work and preparation.

[Right: Richard Armitage as Dr. Tom Steele in Doctors (2001). Source: RichardArmitageNet.com]

After this tense period, professional employment resumes, and his career finally begins to take speed through television work. Armitage makes a last stage appearance, in Annie Lee, late in 2002, significant as well because it is a second data point (beyond contemporaneity at LAMDA) that connects him with Annabel Capper, one of few personal friends who is not a coworker with whom he is ever seen by fans in public. After that production, Armitage will not tread the boards again until a charity performance in the fall of 2010. TV would not have been his first choice; he remarked later that he enjoyed the work more once he had become familiar with what was going on in the medium, which suggests that despite enjoyment of TV as a child and early professional experiences as a TV extra, he had been genuinely most interested in pursuing a theatrical or perhaps an art film career, and had not closely considered television as a desirable career venue until relatively late, under pressure of realization that acting really was his calling in the sense not only that nothing else would please him, but that he couldn’t conceive of other work. Much later, after a season of Spooks, he will note that he couldn’t have seen himself pushing pencils.

[Left: Richard Armitage as Craig Parker in Casualty (2001). Source: RichardArmitageNet.com]

Initial television roles clearly exploit Armitage’s two most obvious qualities at the time: first, a face that was shedding its boyish sweetness toward the end of his twenties and gaining a fascinating angularity that corresponded more closely to his chronological age; second, a capacity to act effectively while performing very physical action scenes that he no doubt owed in part to his extensive dance training. Although it’s hard to judge, since dialect speech is a piece of the toolkit of all actors, he may also have profited from his ability to perform some northern English accents credibly to outsiders. Despite his ongoing interest in high art, Armitage expresses no inhibitions about taking low cultural roles in television; the very rare interview at this time mentions his enjoyment of the “fun” or “boy” aspects of military drama, for instance, and eagerness to do different kinds of roles. Although one suspects that Armitage was concerned with issues of personal appearance a great deal earlier, because dancers as professional tend to be very openly conscious of their bodies and appearances, at the very latest after he is cast as Lee in Cold Feet, regular, goal-oriented physical training to enhance his visual appeal becomes part of his professional preparation. (After North & South, he will state that he wanted not to look like a “lard bucket” and that “the Speedos were popular.”) Going forward, Armitage seems to take away from this experience the desire to cultivate his body not just in order to fulfill the physical demands of a role, but as part of the “look” and thus the identity of a character. Professes ability to play rugby on the assumption that he will be able to manage it — reflecting not only “saying anything” to get a job, but also a physical and intellectual openness to unfamiliar experiences that corresponds to his experiential / somatic learning style and will increasingly play a role in helping him find employment. Roles in this period especially take him to a series of incongruous sources for information: aqua-aerobics classes, a farm with livestock, friendly coaching in rugby, suggesting a willingness to take research of even minor roles seriously, a solid work ethic, and also a strong interest in or at least willingness to encounter closely the unfamiliar. At the same time, along with the “circus” story, experiences during research episodes lay down a series of tropes that are useful fodder for exploitation in interviews, creating a pleasant picture of an individual whose seriousness is tempered by an appreciation for the absurd and a refusal to take himself too seriously.

[Right: Captain Ian Macalwain (Richard Armitage) on the rugby pitch in Ultimate Force 2.2. Source: RichardArmitageNet.com]

Looking back to this career threshold several years later, Armitage continues to narrate a meritocratic version of his development, although to his own disadvantage — he attributes the slow takeoff to his own insufficiencies as an artist. The beginnings of the change he puts down to figuring out how to audition more successfully, as he did for Sparkhouse, in which he wanted the role of John Standring very badly and succeeded at being cast against type. For him, being cast in this role was a consequence of his conscious decision to inhabit characters more intensely than in the past, which in meritocratic terms might be phrased as “working harder at it.” A trope with a similar valence against self-aggrandizement, his habit of telling self-deprecating stories about disastrous auditions that attribute his success to random factors or suggest that his engagement with potential roles is more casual than it really is — at this point, in particular, the story that he was cast in Cold Feet because of his boots, or that he hadn’t realized he’d have to play nude scenes in Between the Sheets — is in evidence from the beginning of Armitage’s television career. Possible factors influencing this style include rhetorical convention among actors and the perceived need to cover personal ambition in British culture; a desire not to look arrogant; and/or superstition. Fear of expressing ambition that comrades might find ridiculous or inappropriate seems to play an important role; not till 2008 will Armitage admit — in one single statement, never repeated, that he had thought about being in movies as a teenager. Various later remarks about failed auditions point to a genuine persisting tension around the experience, however; it will be 2011 before Armitage voices explicitly that he might have gotten a role because of one he had done well at, and even then he will undercut this statement subsequently. At the same time, a self-narration that relies heavily on the role of coincidence or (narrowly avoided) disaster for decisive stations in one’s development is also not infrequently a characteristic of highly ambitious people, in whose statements self-deprecation, statements about one’s incapacities or failures, or attribution of success to factors than one’s own merits serve as a socially acceptable mask for desires or achievements about which one does not wish to boast, or a way of avoiding attributing responsibility for success to oneself.

[Left: Giggly about the unlimited supply of Starburst on the Frozen set — Richard Armitage in 2004 2003 — see note at bottom.] Source: RichardArmitageNet.com]

It is perhaps easiest in comparisons of Armitage’s earliest roles to see a brisk movement in the refinement of acting style from job to job that was occurring with lightning speed in this period — clearly underlining a later self-assessment that he is a “quick learner” when, indeed, he is given the opportunity to undertake the experiential learning most comfortable and effective for him. Working regularly, moreover, gives him the framework in which to think in specific terms about ambitions that had either been inchoate or too dangerous to admit to himself, especially during periods of struggle for roles. In ways both casual and important, Armitage remains young for his age, but a personal vibe of youthful sweetness or silliness is now increasingly divorced from an ever greater application to self-preparation at work. Apparent self-deprecation and boyish joking about auditions in the press mask a development occurring toward a more intense practice of characterization that involves developing and inhabiting a subtext that he places in the minds of his characters, as well as greater willingness to question writers / directors about his characters.

A clearly visible transition from a stage to a television acting style is also underway. Around the time of making Sparkhouse, Armitage considers more fully the issues around presenting a character’s inner life to an observer by adding vs. subtracting layers of personality and emotion in performances in different venues. The clearly evident facial moods of John Standring in Sparkhouse and Paul Andrews in Between the Sheets, which verge on the theatrical, will quickly be reigned in favor of a more naturalistic, less sculpted performance in evidence in the characters he plays in Frozen, Malice Aforethought, and In Divine Proportion. As he makes the transition from stage to television screen, Armitage starts to think of acting as an engagement in the search for truth and appreciates the chance to use acting to experience big emotions not typically available to humans in daily life. Somewhat later, he will mention that he enjoys the potential to get things perfect on television via retakes, though still he valued the discipline and concentration required for two-and-a-half hours of stage work. At the same time, he will say, more often as his career continues, that he enjoys the adrenaline rush of acting. Reading backwards, it seems possible that television work took on the role of a framework for disciplining the worst outcomes of the adrenaline rush Armitage experienced while acting. It may have allowed him to surmount (it’s striking how noticeably Armitage refers to roles as “mountains to climb”) what must occasionally have been a professionally damaging neurotransmitter response that resulted in nervousness around being observed while acting. In any case, success in the television framework bred more success and thus more self-confidence in encounters with the moments of the job that were potentially most nerve-wracking or challenging for the developing artist.

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Breakthrough casting and role, from his own perspective: Richard Armitage as John Standring in episode 3 of Sparkhouse. My cap.

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V. North & South: Armitage’s career comes into the public eye

[Right: Richard Armitage, promotional photo by Jenny Lewis, 2004]

Being cast in North & South (2004), although it is the production that most observers would later characterize as his defining professional breakthrough, thus comes for Armitage as the attainment of a new stage of career recognition rather than a personal, artistic, or cognitive breakthrough. For him, being cast results from internal and artistic developments that had been occurring and are visible in his work as it survives in approximately the previous two years. The major development in this production for Armitage lies less in the internal artistic developments necessary to audition successfully than in the capacity to sustain such a long performance as a lead actor and to maintain his confidence while doing so. This particular phase of his transition from stage to television acting is complete and visible, to great effect, as the facial and gestural responses of Mr. Thornton are carefully edited, heavily under control, and subtle enough against the stillness of his body to draw the eye almost involuntarily in several scenes, and as a result, often say a great deal more than the more voluble facial expressions evident in his earlier characterizations. Just as importantly, the experience of making North & South allows him to glimpse a new horizon for his career and ambitions. He will note later that his presence in a group of actors of much greater reputation sparked further acting developments for him, and that the entire experience redefined his standards for professionalism at work.

[Left: Amused? Richard Armitage interviewed in North & South DVD extra. Source: RichardArmitageNet.com]

At the point at which the very first fans of North & South crash the BBC message board to talk about his performance, then, Armitage has thus worked for a decade and a half without achieving much notice — indeed, as he says afterwards, not a single reference in the press that actually discusses his performance . This experience of anonymity will decisively influence both his career path going forward and his response to fame and the fans who suddenly appear.

Fans clamor for more of him, and successfully call forth the publication of a DVD of the production, although the BBC had programmed North & South as a low-budget effort and had not planned to print a DVD originally. An interview with the man who called forth all this energy is a foregone inclusion. At this point, however, the requisite smoothness of an actor accustomed to media attention is simply not yet in place; neither, apparently, can Armitage muster much of it in the first professional video interview in which he is recorded for posterity. In it, he appears to take the personal eschewal of sprezzatura to a fine art, starting with his appearance — which includes a choker that makes him look almost like a surfer together with a pinstripe jacket and a rather ragged haircut. Armitage disarmingly recalls his reaction to being cast as “shock,” followed by “fear,” mirroring repeated statements in the press before and after broadcast that his unknown status was a gamble to the producers. At different points in the interview, Armitage appears alternately serious and incredulous, nerdy and giggly, and from time to time stammers extensively. He looks down in shyness and wrinkles his brown in mild astonishment and then irons his brow out prosaically, suavely, almost ironically. He gestures rhythmically with his hands, almost as if to self-calm. He laughs about horse poo and a prop hitting him in the nose. He smiles shyly, almost enigmatically, when talking about kissing Daniela Denby-Ashe. At the same time, simple pieces of the artist peek through the interview — references to camera angles and writing, as well as a discussion of costume and characterization. Armitage refers here only briefly to elements of a family past in the North of England that made the story special to him, but he will expand on these in the press — a genre of “storytelling of self” that judiciously capitalizes on versions of factual details from his life that will endear him to audiences and reappear later to great effect in the leadup to the premiere of the The Hobbit. He also notes an apparent immediate and noticeable chemistry with his female co-star. Early reporters universally note his sweetness, shyness, humor, modesty, mild-mannered appearance.

What Richard Armitage does not do in this interview? Not for a second? Smolder.

The disjunction between the charismatic Mr. Thornton and the actual Richard Armitage on the North & South DVD interview, a man who moves between silly and serious, frightened and flirtatious, naive and expert, shy and calm, sometimes experiencing difficulty even making his sentences cohere, exposes a puzzle that will fans will try to crack for at least the next eight years. Who is Richard Armitage?

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[Right: Richard Armitage as Mr. Thornton in North & South (2004). Source: RichardArmitageNet.com].

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Revisions or additions I would propose as of 6/9/2013:

• Per interview stemming from Between the Sheets, published 1/23/2003, Armitage had “just finished” filming Frozen in November 2003. Picture from Frozen excerpt thus most likely dates from before North & South, although fans will still have experienced the North & South DVD interview as their first glimpse of the private Armitage, as Frozen did not premiere until January 27, 2006 (per imdb). However, an examination of any data from that interview as an index of personality belongs in this section. Main matters of interest to me — is he struggling to keep a straight face in first section?; reference to “journey” theme of Shirley Henderson’s and his characters; apparent velarization of “l” in Auslaut as normal speech pattern, which he does rarely after 2006; giggly reference to Starburst candy.
• Confirmation of issue of difficulty with auditions via interview with TORn of late 2012 that Armitage did experience difficulties with auditions and learned to get through them by pretending he’d already been cast and just had to go in to demonstrate what he’d be doing on camera.
• Note from Hobbit interview blitz, 2012/13 that Armitage’s first experience of filming with green screen came not on The Hobbit set but from the Star Wars experience. Stated that one of his tasks was to cut Ewan McGregor in half with a light-saber. Some fans, however, have advanced potential grounds for questioning the veracity of the latter statement.
• Note from Cinemaxx interview, December 2012, “I don’t want to be a fat dude” reinforcing this early evidence of concerns with body image.
• Confirmation of “visual” learning style from December 2012 interview on Canadian radio (seeing images in response to lines) and 2013 “Bin Weevils” interview (memorizing lines via images). Possibly belongs in earlier section.
• If we ever get to see it beyond excerpts, discussion of the “Staged” (1999) performance would go in this section.

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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.

To Part VI.

~ by Servetus on November 21, 2012.