If you’re at all into Shakespeare, you’ve likely seen at least one or two productions of Macbeth in your lifetime. But how many actors playing Macbeth have also played Lady Macbeth—in the same show? As well as Richard III, Shylock, Iago, and any other infamous Shakespearean antihero?
Patrick Page plays ’em all—and then some—in his incredible one-man Elizabethan extravaganza All the Devils Are Here: How Shakespeare Invented the Villain at off-Broadway’s intimate DR2 Theatre. And, in fact, he has: Though he’s just coming off an acclaimed Tony-nominated stint as the devil himself in Broadway’s Hadestown—and many remember him as the Green Goblin, the titular web-slinging superhero’s nemesis, in Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark—Page has indeed played Macbeth, Iago, Claudius…all the juicy Shakespeare rogues.
Directed by Shakespeare Theatre Co. artistic director Simon Godwin, All the Devils Are Here is more than a mere collection of meanie monologues; it’s a chronological crash course in Shakespeare—showing us how he created these corrupt, covetous, conflicted, and just plain evil characters, and how his villains evolved as he progressed as a playwright. Page also alludes to the “complex psychologies, believable backstories, and meaningful motivations” of modern-day film and TV villains that have been traced back to the Bard: Think of the Underwoods on House of Cards—Claire as Lady Macbeth, Frank as Richard III (a very inside-baseball reference for anyone who saw Kevin Spacey in the Sam Mendes–directed Richard III); The Lion King’s Scar as Hamlet’s Claudius; and, of course, Succession patriarch Logan Roy, with his three squabbling heirs, as “a corporate King Lear.”
Even the most die-hard Shakespeare fans will find themselves fascinated by Page’s readings and historical commentary. I’ll admit I had no idea that Aaron the Moor in Titus Andronicus was essentially a carbon copy of Christopher Marlowe’s Barabas in The Jew of Malta—or that they were such horrifying “odious and outdated stereotypes,” says Page, who performs the two characters’ monologues, both brimming with self-satisfied tales of dreadful deeds, back to back. “We know better today, thank goodness! But it’s important to keep in mind the unweeded garden in which Shakespeare planted his earliest seeds.”
Page also points out a major gap in Shakespeare’s timeline as far as villains are concerned. After Richard, Duke of Gloucester (later Richard III) and Aaron the Moor, he turned his attention to plays like Love’s Labour’s Lost and A Midsummer Night’s Dream, to his sonnets, and to a woman we know only as the Dark Lady. Explains Page: “She may have been Jewish, she may have been a Moor…but whoever she was, she had dark skin, dark hair, and dark eyes—and she rocked Shakespeare’s world—making him fundamentally question his cultural biases.”
Which brings us to Shylock in The Merchant of Venice: Shakespeare could have simply created a Jewish caricature, capitulating to the demands of his “rabidly antisemitic” contemporaries. But instead he chose to challenge his audience. “He’s a villain whose motivation is so clear, whose psychology is so complex, and whose language is so rich that he changes the way we experience villainy itself,” comments Page.
Page also perfectly conjures Malvolio (Twelfth Night), whose narcissism proves his undoing and whose humiliation earns our sympathy; Hamlet’s murderous King Claudius, who shows his humanity, and remorse, in a chapel confession (“My words fly up, my thoughts remain below…”); Measure for Measure’s hypocritical Angelo, demanding the virginity of novice nun Isabella in exchange for her brother’s life; Othello’s Iago, a master manipulator/psychopath who poisons the mind of his so-called friend and instigates a murder-suicide (“He did it all with the power of a lie,” says Page); Gloucester’s illegitimate son Edmund (“Now, gods, stand up for bastards!”) in King Lear; and, of course, the title character of “Shakespeare’s darkest play. A play so steeped in evil that most actors won’t dare to speak its name.” You know the one.
If you’re a Shakespeare lover, All the Devils Are Here is a must-see. If you’re someone who appreciates Shakespeare but sometimes doesn’t fully absorb the text or the themes, trust me—this is an absolute must-see. It’s also pretty much made for high school English classes and drama departments—the very definition of edutainment. With any luck, it will be filmed for streaming, as the original 2021 Shakespeare Theatre Co. production was, so kids across the country can watch Page in action. If you’re wondering how to get someone interested in Shakespeare, this, my friends, is it.
All the Devils Are Here: How Shakespeare Invented the Villain opened Oct. 16, 2023, at the DR2 Theatre and runs through February 25, 2024. Tickets and information: allthedevilsplay.com
