David Heron has never hidden his admiration for Toots' Hibbert. As a boy, he was taken by the simple tones of songs like "Sweet And Dandy", one of the reggae legend's many classics.
In October, less than one month after Toots' death at age 77, Heron was approached by Rolling Stone Magazine to narrate its podcast, "A Reggae King Rises Again".
It is based on the feature article of the same name by Jason Fine, a senior editor at the legendary publication, that came out last August.
"I received an email from my actors union, SAG AFTRA (aka the Screen Actors Guild) that some producers had been in touch with them trying to get hold of me and my team. When my agent, Marilynn Scott Murphy of Professional Artists did the follow-up, it turned out to be a company called Audm, a subsidiary of the New York Times, who specialize in turning long-form journalism articles into podcast form," Heron explained.
The producers were looking for a Jamaican with "a Shakespearean or classical experience" who "who could slide easily from standard American English to an authentic Jamaican dialect."
An actor/director with over 30 years in theater, Heron admits his venture into the podcast world had its challenges. He received the script in December and meticulously went about the familiarization process.
"The piece is nearly 7000 words long, so it's a lot of work. There were some passages where within one sentence I was going from American English to Jamaican dialect and back to American again, so making those transitions as crisply and clearly as possible was something I really worked on," he explained. "As an actor, I also had to really fight the urge to ACT in this production. It was really tempting to give a 'performance' and use different voices for Toots, his driver, his lawyer and his friends, etc. That's what actors live for. But that's not what was required for this. The narrator is supposed to just say the words and tell the audience the story, rather than performing it. So operating within that paradigm was new and different for me."
Heron established himself in Jamaican theater during the 1990s with hit plays like "Ecstasy" and "Against His Will". Since settling in New York, he has worked on a number of productions including "Not About Eve" and "The African Company Presents Richard III".
Written By Howard Campbell
