Steven Berkoff Archives - North West End UK

Dog/Actor – Greenside at Infirmary Street

17Aug

By Caroline WorswickNo Comments

Scotland

Dog/Actor – Greenside at Infirmary Street

From the pen of Steven Berkoff, these two short plays offer two vastly different stories, and a chance for ThreeDumb Theatre to show off their flexibility. ThreeDumb was formed in 2015, by LIPA graduates who have since gone on to produce plays such as Am I Happy Yet which received an OffComm Award, and their multiple award-winning digital offering Edgar Allan Poe’s The Black Cat, and One Man Poe. Dog follows the relationship of a graffiti spraying, racist football hooligan who is devoted to his dog, Roy. The two are inseparable and Roy accompanies his devoted owner wherever he goes, even eating pies at the pub with him. It is fair to say that Roy the pit-bull, is not the friendliest of dogs, savaging anyone who crosses his path, but he is a friend to his skinhead owner...

6May

By Kiefer WilliamsNo Comments

North West

Dog/Actor – Hope Street Theatre

Steven Berkoff’s eloquent and evocative double bill performance of Dog / Actor is brought to the stage by Threedumb Theatre, and I have to say it is truly a masterclass in both physical and comedic theatre. Stephen Smith, who is also the artistic director for Threedumb, is the solo performer of this back-to-back double bill and he really excels in this challenging piece. In Dog, Smith portrays a racist foul-mouthed football hooligan with his companion pit bull Roy. Smith uses every part of the studio space to significant effect and provides the audience with a strong and ever-increasing sense of rage. It is without question an uncompromising and difficult piece for any actor to perform but Smith finds the right tempo throughout. Excellent lighting also adds texture to Dog. ...

21Nov

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

REVIEWS

Berkoff’s Women – At Yours

Linda Marlowe has been working with Steven Berkoff since time immemorial and is often referred to as his muse, with this resurrection of her one-woman show – filmed at Charing Cross Theatre and directed by Josie Lawrence - perfectly suited to the performance constraints of the current pandemic as it provides a theatrical exploration of sensuality, revenge, pathos, heart-breaking loneliness, and riotous humour. The show is very simply performed with no set – just an elegant black dress and a chair with an occasional prop added for effect as necessary – as through a series of monologues Marlowe uses the prose of Berkoff to explore the many emotions of women with excerpts from his plays ‘Agamemnon’, ‘Decadence’, ‘East’, ‘Greek’, ‘Kvetch’, and ‘Sturm Und Drang’, and whilst there is li...

The Secret Love Life of Ophelia – Greenwich Theatre

9Aug

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

London

The Secret Love Life of Ophelia – Greenwich Theatre

Steven Berkoff’s The Secret Love Life of Ophelia provides the backstory to one of the Shakespeare’s most tragic couples. Adapted directly in response to the closure of theatres during the coronavirus pandemic, Greenwich Theatre’s new version, directed by James Haddrell, has taken the epistolary nature of the play and converted it into a series of video messages, which makes it a perfect piece of drama for an online production. The piece opens with a clever and imaginative explanation of what is about to be shown, creating a believable world from the off and providing the opportunity for a large cast of forty actors to play the roles of only two characters, alongside a special guest appearance from Dame Helen Mirren. There are some nice special effects which emphasise the technical backs...