PERFORMANCE & COMEDY

Theatre Royal Bath (Sun 13-Mon 14 Nov)

THEATRE  At 74, Steven Berkoff is a bit long in the tooth now to be thought of as the enfant terrible of the theatre world. But can he still hack it?

This new solo show is in two parts. The first, ‘tell-tale heart’, is Berkoff's adaptation of an Edgar Allan Poe story of madness and horrific murder.  Alone in stark white spotlight, he elucidates the gruesome tale with every theatrical trick and technique it’s possible to imagine, the voice changing in an instant from shriek to whisper, from reasoned quiet sharing of confidences to crazed raving, from humour to horror, and all stations in between. Sometimes he is motionless, sometimes using extravagant gestures and stylised movements, but always in total control of his body and his voice. This, if nothing else, is a virtuoso demonstration of acting technique; but his sure grasp of every moment never falters and it holds his audience utterly mesmerised. Remarkable stuff.

The second piece, ‘dog’, is something else altogether. Berkoff's portrayal of an ageing East End skinhead and his dog Roy (yes, he plays both) is an outrageously hysterical send-up of Cockney archetypes: the white van, the Millwall fandom, the ludicrously heavy drinking, the general loutishness combined with dim sentimentality over his vile dog (a deliciously sweary canine character in its own right) - all put over with the energy and verve of a man half his age. He could certainly show Harry Enfield a thing or two. In short, this is an evening with an enfant terrible in a tour de force. (John Christopher Wood)

Copyright John Christopher Wood 2011