Bad to the Bard Berkoffís ëShakespeareís Villainsí Spotlights Evil Characters by Gary Tischler When it comes to villains, Steven Berkoff ought to know. Berkoff, after all, played Adolf Hitler in the famed television mini-series ìWar and Remembranceîóand you donít get much badder than that. So when Berkoffóan acclaimed actor, writer, playwright, rebel, and general thorn in the side of the cultural establishment for much of his long careeróbrought his one-man riff ìShakespeareís Villains: A Masterclass in Evilî to The Studio Theatre, you can bet he knows whereof he speaks. Shakespeareís plays are, of course, full of villains, bad guys and girls who do horrible things, not only stooping to murder, but usually diving right in and wallowing in the blood. Berkoff has his own views on the matter of Shakespeare, and in this production youíll not only be getting the Bardís famous lines and scenes, but also Berkoffís own take on the famed villains, how theyíve been performed, and the whys and wherefores of their villainy. And the actorís choices may surprise you. Macbeth, of course, is here, but so is his wife, as Berkoff plays them both, getting n ot only to kill the king, but trying to get the blood off her hands. Shakespeareís grandest villain, Richard III, is also hereóthe man audiences love for his plain-spoken audacity, his complete and utter nihilism, and the joy he gets from his villainous abilities. But you might also consider Hamlet as a kind of villain. After all, it is his indecisiveness that leads to a bunch of dead bodies, and he kills poor Polonius with little regret. And whatís with the king of the netherworld, that decidedly sinister Oberon in ìA Midsummer Nightís Dream?î Berkoff would have you believe that he may have been the first true drug lord of all time, with Puck as his street pusher. Berkoff, born just before World War II, has always delighted in taking a shot at theatrical traditions while wearing the mantle of Renaissance man. At an early age, he was influenced by the work of French theatrical force Antonin Artaud. The result can be seen in his comment that ìI like to create each production as a piece of theater in a way that has never been conceived or imagined beforeóas if there had never been a theater.î Berkoff flowered as his own force in theater beginning in the 1960s, and he hasnít really stopped: Heís adapted classics, including ìMetamorphosis,î and heís performed in his own version of ìAgamemnonî and ìThe Fall of the House of Usher,î indicating a certain fascination with the morbid on a grand scale. He has been said to be a foe of the star system operating among Shakespearean actors in the West End. Yet, in the end, a curious thing has happened: As a villain, Berkoff became something of a movie star, often playing burning-eye Russian villains in such films as ìRambo: First Blood Part IIî and, yes, ìOctopussy.î Berkoffís choices among Shakespeareís villains are interesting but by no means the last word. Shakespeare also loves his clowns, heroines, fools, kings and lovers, but there are times when it seems he loves his villains the most, because heís made them such juicy characters. Of all the villains, Macbeth is probably the most complicated and most modern of them all. He marches with a growing madness and passion toward destruction, believing the world will be destroy him if he doesnít destroy it first. (Berkoff, of course, has done the full treatment of ìMacbethî as well.) But others, perhaps less obvious, could also qualify. If Brutus is the noblest Roman, what does that make Cassius: a jealous conniver? King Learís daughters are scheming, rapacious and evil, and then thereís the oily, corrupt Pandarusóthatís where we get the word ìpandererîóin ìTroilus and Cressida,î a play almost devoid of sympathetic characters. But then thereís the outrageous Queen Tamara in ìTitus Andronicus,î whose murderous deeds end up in her eating the worst sort of humble pie. And in this play there is Aaron the Moor, who, in his sheer joy for villainy, is only topped by Richard III himself. Richard talked to us, delighting in his deeds, and was honest about who he was. ìLook,î he seemed to say, ìwatch this, Iím going to seduce the wife of the man I murdered as she walks behind his bier.î Richard haunts all the great actors: Lawrence Olivier in his film version, Ian McKellen as a Nazi, and sly Stacey Keach at The Shakespeare Theater. They haunt us as well. Not that heís the only great bad guy, but Berkoff seems to stand in his own league. In a recent interview, he told of writing a new play called ìMessiah,î in which he said he would not be acting. ìAlthough there is this part of SatanÖî ìShakespeareís Villains: A Masterclass in Evilî runs through Feb. 2 at The Studio Theatre, 14th and P Streets, NW. For more information, please call (202) 332-3300 or visit www.studiotheatre.org. Gary Tischler is a contributing writer to The Washington Diplomat.