Guy Day Friday: Reblogging Servetus’ Essay About “Armitage Reacting” While Acting as Sir Guy in Robin Hood, 10/19/12 Gratiana Lovelace (Post #291)

Michaela Servetus–the  Me + Richard Armitage blogger–is widely known for her finely nuanced analyses.  And on Wednesday October 17, 2012, she had another real gem of an essay about Richard Armitage (portraying Sir Guy of Gisborne)  acting with Keith Allen (portraying the Sheriff) in the BBC series Robin Hood that aired 3 series/seasons from 2006 to 2009.

Servetus walks us through a BBC Robin Hood scene from Series 1, episode 13 of finely tuned humiliation for Sir Guy by the Sheriff.  And she provides beautiful examples to illustrate her points about Mr. Armitage’s artistry in creating the many colors of that humiliation.

Through Servetus’ keen eyes and mind shared with us in her essay, we develop a better understanding of the subtle nuances in Richard Armitage’s portrayal of Sir Guy.  And consequently, our appreciation and admiration for Mr. Armitage’s acting and storytelling deepens.

I loved Servetus’ essay  and I’m sure you will, too.

Cheers!   Grati  ;->

Here is the beginning of Servetus’ essay:

“All acting is reacting” is a common actor’s maxim (is this Stanislavski speaking? Better informed people than I will know the answer). I suspect this notion lies at the basis of Richard Armitage’s conviction that he does best when he’s reacting to someone else in a scene (and his desire to avoid situations in which he’s not reacting to anyone present, although we have seen a brief one-man performance that was more than convincing). He’s an actor who gets an unusual amount of mileage from his reactions, and he mentioned more than once that the unpredictability of Keith Allen played a significant role in influencing those scenes:”

For the rest of Servetus’ beautiful essay, please visit:

http://meandrichard.wordpress.com/2012/10/17/armitage-reacting/

References

“Armitage Reacting”, by Michaela Servetus, 10/17/12, was found at http://meandrichard.wordpress.com/2012/10/17/armitage-reacting/

Servetus’ caption for the image reproduced here is:  “0:26 — and finally we get there: anger, or potential danger. Richard Armitage as Guy of Gisborne in Robin Hood 1.13. My cap.”