Seven faces of the knave

Dressed in a loose black shirt and printed trousers, the actor, who addressed a press meet prior to the play, does not come across as your typical Shakespearewalla. Witty and informal, Berkoff takes swipes at others who have played Shakespeare and lets out on why it continues to be important for a serious actor to play the Bard’s characters.

“Shakespeare is the real test of an actor in England. Unless you have done Shakespeare, you are not considered an actor. And you also get a knighthood like Sir John Gielgud or Sir Lawrence Olivier,” he quips. On a more serious note, he explains why he chose Shakespeare’s rogues. “He is perhaps the only playwright who wrote about his villains with some justification. They are intended to make us feel good about ourselves and also determine and strengthen our values and commitment to justice and humanity. He gave psychological credibility to his characters. Shylock, in his plea for basic human rights, says, Hath not a Jew eyes…,’ Richard III, the most tabloid of Shakespeare’s villains, shares with us his ugliness and deformity”.

The curious inclusion of Hamlet, and to some extent Oberon, the other villains being Iago, Richard III, Macbeth, Coriolanus and Shylock – is easily explained. “Hamlet was the worst of them all. He causes the death of Polonius, Laertes, Claudius, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, who bore no ill-will toward him, and Gertrude and Ophelia.

“When this man can take another’s life, giving him a funny line does not change the fact that he has become a villain. Oberon’s world in Midsummer Night’s Dream is an amoral one, but one in which he causes his wife to fall in love with a man who has a donkey’s head. He is a villain too”.

As an actor whose original plays include East, West, Decadence and Acapulco, Berkoff says that he is able to get a sense of the audience all over the world. “Actors are in a unique position. They can assess and gain insight into the psychological temperament and mindsets of the intelligentsia who form the audience. "I have found that despite the almost unbreachable gaps between the desires of nations, in theatre, they are all one – they laugh at the same time, are silent at the same time, are enlightened by the same things. It showed me how alike we all are”.

Berkoff has played the villain in mainstream films like Octopussy, Beverly Hills Cop, Rambo II, Legionnaire and The Krays, but dismisses these screen villains with a wave of the hand, preferring to plumb for Shakespeare. “He is a repository of all values and wisdoms, offering pragmatic solutions, giving warnings. He has become a new religion, with no conflict of Your God is better than mine.’ Shakespeare is like curry!” Now if you thought that was an unusual analogy, Berkoff explains it. “He makes us enjoy and teaches us the manners and habits of an age. So spread your Shakespeare the way you spread your curry”!