Published in The List
Keeping
it in the family
Actor.
Playwright. Director. Fringe darling. Big-screen bad guy. Steven Berkoff is all
these things and more, a singular talent who has ploughed his own furrow. But
for all his unique qualities, the 73-year-old says he is every bit the company
man. This is no idle boast; having worked in Hollywood, he has seen
institutionalised egotism first-hand.
'I
recently worked on a film where some of the leading actors didn't even talk to
me – and I was playing a leading part,' says a man whose film career has
included A Clockwork Orange, Octopussy, and Rambo. 'I tried to talk
– "How are you?" – a little chatter, but they're limited and they
stick in their character and if you're playing the bad guy, they can't look at
you at all. It's the most sterile environment. They have strict schedules, the
money is colossal, so everybody's a bit more wired, but I was amazed at how
bloated they were with their self-importance.'
This
is why, when the actor playing Creon was unavailable for the Fringe run of Oedipus, which played in Liverpool and Nottingham earlier this year,
Berkoff himself could take his place without having to worry about crossing any
us-and-them divide. 'You read about bullying directors, but that wouldn’t
work,' he says. 'We're allies.'
It
is also why the whole ensemble has such a presence in this staging. Gathered
round a long table, evoking images of the last supper and Renaissance art, the
chorus is every bit as important as the lead players. 'We do everything on the
table, through the table,' he says. 'When Creon comes on, they dance and they
eat, because eating isn't only the celebration of food but of companionship, of
allies, of friends. We do a lot of that, a lot of touching. There's something
quite beautiful because of the table.'
In
other words, it is the opposite of the kind of hierarchical theatre he detests.
'You often get the star actor coming on and the ensemble are just trash who sit
in the dressing room playing Scrabble and occasionally come on,' he says.
'There's no need for them, we don’t care for them. Sometimes the actors have
never even spoken to the star of the play.'
Joining
him for the Edinburgh run is Anita Dobson, who may be better known for her role
as Angie Watts in EastEnders (not to mention being Mrs Brian May), but cut her
teeth at the Citizens Theatre, Glasgow, in the 1970s and starred on stage in
Berkoff's Kvetch. She plays Jocasta, who turns out to be both wife and
mother of Oedipus in the archetypal story that gave Freud so much to think
about. 'It is one of the most extraordinary and horrific tales of how you are
never really in control of your own destiny,' he says.
It
is a story that has occupied Berkoff himself over the years. One of his
landmark plays was Greek, which reframed the Sophocles tale in terms of
contemporary London. He wrote this latest version of *3Oedipus*2 ten years ago
to pass the time during a particularly lengthy film shoot and, although it is
faithful to the setting of the original, it has a swagger and punch that is all
his own. His is a heightened type of theatre and he has no time for the anodyne
pleasantries of your standard English translation. Neither does he care for
your conventional western way of rehearsing.
'We
always start on the stage,' he says. 'We never discuss it. Most directors sit
round with the actors for a week discussing. They discuss the character,
motivation, lines, humour and rhythms and, by the end of the week, the actors
are ready to go but they can't move. All their muscles are seized up. I don't
believe in talking to the actors. I think it’s pompous. These guys often know
more than you and the work is done on the stage.'
Oedipus, Pleasance
Courtyard, 0131 556 6550, 3–29 Aug (not 9, 10, 17 or 24), 1.20pm, £16–£17.50
(£14–£15.50).
© Mark Fisher 2011
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