The k2p blog

Alan Rickman has died at 69. RIP.

I had read the Barchester chronicles as a teenager but the whole thing came to life when Alan Rickman brought the Reverend Obadiah Slope to life in 1982. He became an immediate favourite for me and even now, more than 30 years later, the deliciously sneaky, slimy, smarminess he imbued Slope with is difficult to match.

His remarkable voice just one of his many assets. He could denote the depth of evil with a quirk of his eyebrow. Of course he went from strength to strength and Severus Snape was – in a sense a return to Slope. A richer, deeper, darker, more sinister Slope who had been to Dante’s inferno and returned. But you only have to watch Rickman as Slope to see where he brings Snape from. He even brought a depth to Col. Brandon which even Jane Austen had not imagined.

Alan Rickman enriched my life and I shall miss his performances.

But I shall always remember him as Obadiah Slope.

The Rise and Fall of Obadiah Slope

Tags: Alan Rickman, Obadiah Slope, Severus Snape

This entry was posted on January 14, 2016 at 6:52 pm and is filed under Art. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.