Monday, November 11, 2024

All the Devils Are Here at the Guthrie

Page, Patrick. All the Devils Are Here: How Shakespeare Invented the Villain. Perf. Patrick Page. Dir. Simon Godwin. Guthrie Theatre. Minneapolis, Minnesota, 2024.

All the Devils are Here is part theatre history, part lecture, part Shakespearean acting, and all great.

I first heard about the show when it opened in New York City, and I didn't think I'd ever get a chance to see it.

But I'm very glad I did.

Patrick Page takes us chronologically through nine Shakespeare villains, providing context (including villains written by Shakespeare's contemporaries), backstory (including some speculative but reasonable elements), and enacted scenes (including playing multiple roles in a given selection).

The program provides a "Villain Scorecard" with somewhat tongue-in-cheek commentary about each of the villains Page covers. I'm providing that as the best overview of the contents of the show:



The show is well worth seeing. It's both educational and entertaining, and the choices and the acting are top-notch.

Links: Tickets at the Guthrie.

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Unless otherwise indicated, quotations from Shakespeare's works are from the following edition:
Shakespeare, William. The Riverside Shakespeare. 2nd ed. Gen. ed. G. Blakemore Evans. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1997.
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