SUN CITY – On Friday, March 9, Jenny Riddle, a dramatic book reviewer, portrayed several characters from “Ladies of Liberty” by Cokie Roberts. Riddle has been successfully portraying great people from history for the past ten years. The dramatic book review is essentially a one-woman show.
“The dramatic book review is educational entertainment. It combines my love of literature and sharing with my dramatic skills,” said Riddle.
Riddle will put her own spin on characters from history and will usually try to incorporate some singing regardless of whether or not the character sang in real life. Some examples of this are Hillary Clinton singing “I’m Still Here” (a Sondheim tune) and Barbara Walters crooning “My Way.”
Riddle attained a B.A. in English from U of I (Urbana) and an M.A. in English from DePaul.
“I’ve been interested in acting since I was a girl. I sang in church often, acted in school plays, and my dad, who was an English and speech teacher, was always having us recite poetry at home. I [also] acted in high school and college,” said Riddle.
Riddle started off teaching English, speech, and drama for several years before deciding to stay home to take care of her children. To help pay the bills she began to tutor children with dyslexia in reading and writing. During this time she became aware of a woman named Barbara Rinella, who performed something called the dramatic book review.
“It seemed perfect for me, as it combined all the things I loved, and I would get to be my own boss. Barbara was gracious enough to meet with me and give me some advice. She’s great at what she does, [but] I felt I needed to differentiate myself from her. So since I’m a singer, I added singing to the book review,” said Riddle.
In Ladies of Liberty, Riddle portrayed Abigail Adams, wife of John Adams, second President of the United States; Dolley Madison, wife of James Madison, fourth President of the United States; and Louisa Adams, who married John Quincy Adams, the United States’ sixth president.
“Each of these women is unique in terms of their personalities but similar in the sacrifices they were willing to make for their country and for their husbands’ ambition,” said Riddle.
When asked about portraying these amazing people from history, Riddle shared, “It’s really more of the suggestion of a character rather than to trying to actually be … whoever it is I’m portraying. If the story is strong and well told, you can do anyone. All of my characters continue to grow and develop each time I do it. If someone saw me do a review and then saw it again 12 months later, I’m sure they would notice tremendous growth in a character.”
At the conclusion of the dramatic book review, Riddle shared what books she is currently reading.
“When people come up to me at the end [of my review] with animated faces wanting to talk about one of the authors, I know I’ve created an interest and have hopefully encouraged them to read the book. Art helps people to see things differently, to be inspired, and to hopefully think more about their own lives,” said Riddle.
To learn more about Riddle’s book reviews, please visit www.jennyriddle.com
Riddle said, “It’s great fun to portray different people, and I love it that I’m always looking for the next book…. I’ve learned so much from the people I’ve reviewed.”
