In this episode of Audicted, cohosts Katie O’Connor and Kat Johnson highlight some of their favorite characters in literature, and share a special conversation with the award-winning narrator Simon Vance. They touch on his process, some of his most notable roles, and more. Download or stream the full episode here.
Simon Vance on his origins as a narrator
SV: I mean, I can go so back to something like age six. So my dad gave me…actually 11, when he gave me a tape recorder. He recorded me at age six reading one of the Winnie the Pooh stories, but at 11 I got a tape recorder, so I started making silly noises and funny voices into it, and I've never stopped.
On crafting the character of Sherlock Holmes in audio
Katie O’Connor: One of the, perhaps, most iconic characters that you've taken on is Sherlock Holmes. We were curious what it was like to voice a character who has been portrayed and interpreted so many times, and what you maybe wanted to do differently, or make sure you absolutely got right with him?
SV: Sherlock Holmes is an interesting case, because of course I grew up with Sherlock Holmes and he's been present throughout my life in so many different incarnations. I think the one that's really stuck with me the most is Jeremy Brett's. I was probably a teenager when he started them, or whenever I watched all of them, and to me he was the quintessential Sherlock Holmes. But there's also so many others down the years, you know, not forgetting Cumberbatch and his version and all the others. The thing is, and what I've said before is, the text is the source. If it's not there, and you try to put something on top of it, it might work, but basically that's not your responsibility. Your responsibility is to take the text and then draw everything you can from that and I guess if you have to then ladle something on top of that, you can. But for the most part, you go to the original. Now, with Sherlock Holmes it's so iconic, so many different versions. I know that I took bits of all of them and in my head, in that play, that movie that I was running in my head, they were all kind of wandering around there in some way. But all of those came from the original text so what I was drawing from them was probably just through them from the text that I already had in my head.
Also in this episode:
Presents are being wrapped and reservations are being made when Nick's clever and beautiful wife disappears from their rented McMansion on the Mississippi River....
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes tales are rightly ranked among the seminal works of mystery and detective fiction.
Set on a desert planet, Dune is the story of Paul Atreides, who would become the mysterious Maud'dib, avenge a plot against his family, and bring to fruition humankind's most ancient dream....
I used to be super intimidated by the classics, but eventually I realized that you don’t have to read or like all of them, you just have to find the ones that do it for you. Dracula is one of those classics I’ve devoured time and time again. Even with all the film adaptations out there, Stoker is still the best source to go to for a dark vampire tale.
The Vampire Chronicles Book 1, Interview with the Vampire Books in Series: Interview with the Vampire (Book 1); The Vampire Lestat (Book 2); The Queen of the Damned (Book 3); The Tale of the Body Thief (Book 4); Memnoch the Devil (Book 5); The Vampire Armand (Book 6); Merrick (Book 7); Blood and Gold (Book 8); Blackwood Farm (Book 9); Blood Canticle (Book 10); Prince Lestat (Book 11); Prince Lestat and the Realms of Atlantis (Book 12); Blood Communion (Book 13) Anne Rice’s name is near synonymous with the word vampire. Beginning with the iconic Interview with the Vampire, this expansive and long-running series is perfect for any listener who is a little thirsty for bloodthirst. Originating as a short story, Rice expanded it into a full novel about the life of a vampire, Louis de Pointe du Lac, who decides to tell his life story to a reporter. With 13 entries in this ongoing series, there is plenty to get into for those seeking a thrilling horror, including the travails of popular character Prince Lestat de Lioncourt.