The name may not be familiar but avid theatergoers should recognize the voice. Patrick Page’s foghorn pipes have long been suited to villainous characters—the Grinch, Spiderman’s nemesis —the Green Goblin and most recently Hades in Hadestown to name but a few. But that’s all child’s play compared to his latest foray taking on not one but about a dozen of the nastiest in his bravura solo act All The Devils Are Here: How Shakespeare Invented the Villain. Produced by Shakespeare Theater Company, it’s a tour de force in which Page provides fascinating insights while enacting scenes playing just about every one of the Bard’s villains, even Lady Macbeth.
As Page tells it, the murderous Macbeth was the culmination of Shakespeare’s two decades-long exploration of evil. In chronological order, Page takes us through the development of these vile characters. First the humpbacked Richard III, crafted simply born-to-be-bad.
We learn that in Elizabethan times, it was easy to dismiss anyone who was disabled, deformed, dark-skinned and Jewish as lacking virtue. But over the course of some 20 years, Shakespeare gave dimension to his villains.
Shylock the Jewish money lender in The Merchant of Venice is a bad guy demanding his pound of flesh but his villainy is justified to an extent as he describes how he’s been maligned all his life. Page tells us it was the first time that the anti-Semitic Elizabethans were introduced to a villain with real motivation. The scorned Jew decries the hostility leveled against him in a famous speech which Page performs with wrenching virtuosity: “Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions.… If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die? And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?”
In subsequent works, the villains become more human. Falstaff, the embodiment of the seven deadly sins, is also witty and wise. And it’s hard to blame the pompous Malvolio in Twelfth Night after the way he was duped into making a fool of himself.
Even Hamlet’s fratricidal uncle King Claudius is allowed to reveal a tinge of guilt.
And then there’s Othello’s tormentor, Iago. Page discusses at length the depths of his malevolence. After a long study, Page concludes Iago is a sociopath. And with a sly nod to current events, Page points out that one in 25 people today possesses the same antisocial personality disorder…saying you probably know such a person—and it could be anyone—a neighbor, a teacher, a President.
By the time Shakespeare wrote Macbeth, detailing that couple’s diabolical campaign to seize the crown, the motivations were fully fleshed out. Short of being a sociopath, Macbeth has his doubts and he feels the tremendous weight of his sinful mission.
Throughout, Page imparts intriguing tidbits humanizing the bard. It seems he was something of a thief and a plagiarizer, stealing from his playwriting rival Christopher Marlowe. And we learn that even Shakespeare got bad reviews.
Shakespeare often wrote about the powers of magic and witchcraft but there’s also something very magical about the actor’s ability to conjure up an alternate reality with little more than vocal inflection and physical gesture. The entire 80 minute production is a work of inspired minimalism. Filmed with a keen eye by director Alan Paul and director of photography Joey Ruffini, all it took was a mostly bare set, a few props, clever lighting and a magnificent actor to bring Shakespeare’s villains to exhilarating life.
All the Devils Are Here: How Shakespeare Invented the Villain will be streamed beginning February 4, 2021. Information and tickets: shakespearetheatre.org
