Milford Library, 57 New Haven Ave., is pleased to host a talk by Davina
Porter, well-known Westport actor and recent inductee of the Narrator Hall of
Fame, on Wednesday, April 18 at 2pm.
Porter has recorded more than 600 audiobooks. One of the founding narrators
with Recorded Books, Porter has an impressive list of classics in her
audiography. Porter’s voice is surely
one of the most elegant and refined in audiobooks, giving the Victorian classics
fluid presentation. She's able to capture historical settings with splendid
clarity and yet convey the harsh realities of the period. In her renditions of
biographies of Catherine the Great, Empress Josephine, and Marie Antoinette,
she engages listeners with the details and simultaneously projects the full
context.
When talking about her work, Porter mentions her attention to historical
detail. As a student of conventions and manners, she laughs at the anachronisms
she encounters in some novels--sitting cross-legged on the floor in a hoop
skirt, for example. She admires authors who do their homework, like Diana
Gabaldon. Porter's readings of the
Outlander series, for which she uses her Scots heritage to flavor the dialects
of dozens of characters, have many fans. And they're among her personal
favorites. Gabaldon's lengthy novels require careful preparation. An initial
reading, which Porter always does, is followed by preparation of a day's
recording session, with careful anticipation of pages that may involve five or
six Scots in a scene. She strives to bring each voice off the page and at the
same time maintain a natural sense. A flexible voice, notes Porter, is
essential for audiobook narrators, as is the ability to make quick changes and
maintain a comfortable narrative level for long periods. She always seeks the
author's intent, and with an author like Ruth Rendell care must be given to
subtle, psychological clues. Her success with a range of mysteries by Rendell,
Elizabeth George, Anne Perry, and M.C. Beaton is a testament to this perceptive
approach.
This engaging, spirited talk is free and open to all.
