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Décadence
Ce n'est pas seulement l'unité de lieu et de temps qui élève Décadence à la dimension tragique, mais le souffle musical puissamment orchestré qui l'anime de bout en bout.
Il s'agit d'un tragique primitif, brut, organique, débordant de promesses sexuelles et d'actes expiatoires. L'histoire des personnages épouse le cycle répétitif de la rencontre amoureuse couvée dans la vengeance, l'ambition et le désordre. L'enjeu de ces affrontements, ce sont les clés de la destinée : amour, argent, pouvoir. En traduisant en termes de théâtralité les composantes mythiques de la réussite humaine, Steven Berkoff arrive à toucher comme par inadvertance le coeur même du ressort tragique. Dans le face-à-face d'une équation sinistre, rien n'est épargné aux personnages : leur combat singulier (et dédoublé) ne s'épuisera qu'avec la mort.
JORGE LAVELLI
Il s'agit d'un tragique primitif, brut, organique, débordant de promesses sexuelles et d'actes expiatoires. L'histoire des personnages épouse le cycle répétitif de la rencontre amoureuse couvée dans la vengeance, l'ambition et le désordre. L'enjeu de ces affrontements, ce sont les clés de la destinée : amour, argent, pouvoir. En traduisant en termes de théâtralité les composantes mythiques de la réussite humaine, Steven Berkoff arrive à toucher comme par inadvertance le coeur même du ressort tragique. Dans le face-à-face d'une équation sinistre, rien n'est épargné aux personnages : leur combat singulier (et dédoublé) ne s'épuisera qu'avec la mort.
JORGE LAVELLI
48 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 23, 1992
About the author
Steven Berkoff
69 books12 followersSteven Berkoff is an English actor, writer and director.Best known for his performance as General Orlov in the James Bond film Octopussy, he is typically cast in villanous roles, such as Lt. Col Podovsky in Rambo: First Blood Part II, Victor Maitland in Beverly Hills Cop, and Adolf Hitler in epic mini-series War and Remembrance.
His earliest plays are adaptations of works by Franz Kafka: The Metamorphosis (1969); In the Penal Colony (1969); and The Trial (1971); these complex psychological plays are said to be nightmarish and to create a disturbing sense of alienation in their audiences. In the 1970s and 1980s, he wrote a series of verse plays including: East (1975); Greek (1980); Decadence (1981); West (1983); Sink the Belgrano! (1986); Massage (1997); Sturm und Drang; and The Secret Love Life of Ophelia (2001). East, Greek and West were punk-inspired works about working class London youth based on Oedipus and Beowulf respectively.
Berkoff employs a style of heightened physical theatre known as "total theatre". Drama critic Aleks Sierz describes his Berkoff's dramatic style as "in yer face": "the language is usually filthy, characters talk about unmentionable subjects, take their clothes off, have sex, humiliate each another, experience unpleasant emotions, become suddenly violent. At its best, this kind of theatre is so powerful, so visceral, that it forces audiences to react: either they feel like fleeing the building or they are suddenly convinced that it is the best thing they have ever seen, and want all their friends to see it too. It is the kind of theatre that inspires us to use superlatives, whether in praise or condemnation."
According to Annette Pankratz, in her 2005 Modern Drama review of Steven Berkoff and the Theatre of Self-Performance, by Robert Cross, "Steven Berkoff is one of the major minor contemporary dramatists in Britain and – due to his self-fashioning as a bad boy of British theatre and the ensuing attention of the media – a phenomenon in his own right."
"I'm scared of Steven Berkoff" is a line in the lyrics of "I'm Scared" (1992), by Queen's guitarist Brian May, released on his first solo album Back to the Light (1993). Brian May has declared himself as a great admirer of Berkoff.
The Berkoff Performing Arts Centre was named for him at Alton College, in North East Hampshire on 20 June 2008.
His earliest plays are adaptations of works by Franz Kafka: The Metamorphosis (1969); In the Penal Colony (1969); and The Trial (1971); these complex psychological plays are said to be nightmarish and to create a disturbing sense of alienation in their audiences. In the 1970s and 1980s, he wrote a series of verse plays including: East (1975); Greek (1980); Decadence (1981); West (1983); Sink the Belgrano! (1986); Massage (1997); Sturm und Drang; and The Secret Love Life of Ophelia (2001). East, Greek and West were punk-inspired works about working class London youth based on Oedipus and Beowulf respectively.
Berkoff employs a style of heightened physical theatre known as "total theatre". Drama critic Aleks Sierz describes his Berkoff's dramatic style as "in yer face": "the language is usually filthy, characters talk about unmentionable subjects, take their clothes off, have sex, humiliate each another, experience unpleasant emotions, become suddenly violent. At its best, this kind of theatre is so powerful, so visceral, that it forces audiences to react: either they feel like fleeing the building or they are suddenly convinced that it is the best thing they have ever seen, and want all their friends to see it too. It is the kind of theatre that inspires us to use superlatives, whether in praise or condemnation."
According to Annette Pankratz, in her 2005 Modern Drama review of Steven Berkoff and the Theatre of Self-Performance, by Robert Cross, "Steven Berkoff is one of the major minor contemporary dramatists in Britain and – due to his self-fashioning as a bad boy of British theatre and the ensuing attention of the media – a phenomenon in his own right."
"I'm scared of Steven Berkoff" is a line in the lyrics of "I'm Scared" (1992), by Queen's guitarist Brian May, released on his first solo album Back to the Light (1993). Brian May has declared himself as a great admirer of Berkoff.
The Berkoff Performing Arts Centre was named for him at Alton College, in North East Hampshire on 20 June 2008.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
August 15, 2011
Since no one has reviewed this play, I feel it's my civil duty to.
This play is centered around 4 people. Two of them are married, but they both have lovers. The husband cheated on the wife, and the wife is sleeping with a policeman, plotting for revenge. Both couples (husband-lover, wife-lover), are played by 2 actors - a male and a female. Sorta like split personality disorder. The male plays BOTH the husband AND the police officer, and the female plays BOTH the mistress AND the wife. Each scene, they switch back and forth.
I personally don't know anything about Steven Berkoff, and he's played in a lot of movies I've seen - though his face doesn't ring a bell. He's sorta multi-talented if you may. His writing is good enough. This play is written in a form that's something between vignettes and prose. Each character goes on a long soliloquy about meaningless sex, alcohol, expensive clothes - nothing really "deep" and cultured. A lot of the play is taken up by sex-related, not-that-nice words. Berkoff did NOT have many inhibitions! He's definitely going for the shock factor.
I liked this play for the sheer reason that Berkoff makes his characters look ridiculous and superficial. He despises them and loves them. They care about nothing important and their lives are hollow. And even the characters know that. It had interesting moments and speeches, but it's not a play worth reading twice, or a book that you'll sit and think about. It was okay. Period.
This play is centered around 4 people. Two of them are married, but they both have lovers. The husband cheated on the wife, and the wife is sleeping with a policeman, plotting for revenge. Both couples (husband-lover, wife-lover), are played by 2 actors - a male and a female. Sorta like split personality disorder. The male plays BOTH the husband AND the police officer, and the female plays BOTH the mistress AND the wife. Each scene, they switch back and forth.
I personally don't know anything about Steven Berkoff, and he's played in a lot of movies I've seen - though his face doesn't ring a bell. He's sorta multi-talented if you may. His writing is good enough. This play is written in a form that's something between vignettes and prose. Each character goes on a long soliloquy about meaningless sex, alcohol, expensive clothes - nothing really "deep" and cultured. A lot of the play is taken up by sex-related, not-that-nice words. Berkoff did NOT have many inhibitions! He's definitely going for the shock factor.
I liked this play for the sheer reason that Berkoff makes his characters look ridiculous and superficial. He despises them and loves them. They care about nothing important and their lives are hollow. And even the characters know that. It had interesting moments and speeches, but it's not a play worth reading twice, or a book that you'll sit and think about. It was okay. Period.
Displaying 1 of 1 review