Master of the villains

The jury is still out on whether Steve Berkoff is a genius or an egotistical showman.

Steven Berkoff arrives on stage preceded by a formidable reputation as a maverick who has ignored fashion to advance a personal vision of what theatre is all about.

Critics seem evenly divided as to whether he is a genius or an egotistical showman. On the evidence of Shakespeare's Villains, the two categories are not mutually exclusive.

Delivering Richard III's vengeful tirade against nature and the world, Berkoff is mesmerising. In the space of a single soliloquy he inhabits the role so completely he seems to embody Artaud's notion of performance as a form of possession.

Moments later he is milking the audience for laughs or shamelessly hamming it up as the ghost of Hamlet's father.

Surprisingly, given the subject matter, the predominant feeling is one of lightness. Berkoff is in a playful mood, clearly enjoying the opportunity to toy with roles that have become a part of our cultural heritage.

He is acutely aware of the dangers of trying to imitate the greats of the Shakespearean tradition and sets out to find his own interpretation by teasing out the language and supplementing the words with an extravagant array of gestures.

The production approaches Shakespeare from an actor's perspective, constantly searching for the motivation behind the emotion and always aware of the practical difficulties of staging.

For most of the show, comedy has the upper hand. He hilariously explicates on the need for a double-take to establish the efficacy of Hamlet's play-within-a-play and delivers an extended stand-up routine on the dangers of using a locket in the closet scene.

But there are moments when the levity gives way to some highly inventive interpretations of the familiar roles. Perhaps most notable is a nuanced reading of Lady Macbeth, who is presented as a self-conscious and affected seductress as she tries to bolster her husband's flagging enthusiasm for evil. Her dissembling brilliantly prefigures the feigned hospitality that Macbeth will offer King Duncan before murdering his house guest.

The production has an unusual structure. Berkoff opens with the heavyweight villains, Richard III and Iago, who is convincingly portrayed as a small-minded lager lout. He then winds down the intensity as he deals with Hamlet's casual and remorseless slaying of Polonius.

The show concludes with Oberon, King of the Fairies, seen as a nihilistic prankster using drugs to rob Titania of her reason and satisfy his lust.

The low-key ending robbed the audience of the expected climax but posed some fascinating questions about the nature of contemporary villainy, which is most accurately mirrored in the casual cruelty of decent men like Hamlet.

Berkoff seems to suggest that the most abhorrent evil is not the vengeful passions that arise when self-confessed psychopaths such as Richard III succumb to jealousy, ambition or greed.

Far more chilling is the self-absorbed villain who has insulated himself from any awareness of how his deeds affect others.

Review

*What: Shakespeare's Villains
*Where: Bruce Mason Centre
*Reviewer: Paul Simei-Barton