Americans know Berkoff primarily as the director of Baryshnikov in
the anomalous Broadway production of Kafka's Metamorphosis. In
Europe, however, his 1979-81 production of Hamlet turned more than
a few heads, not only because of its experimental approach to the
classic, but because Berkoff directed - and played the leading
role. As this Hamlet "production diary" shows, Berkoff's effort was
propelled by arrogance and courage in equal measure. Frequently, he
takes the opportunity to rail against wooden past productions of
the play (particularly those mounted by the RSC), the current
tendency for directors to steal the limelight from actors (even
Peter Brook gets a bashing), and the playwright himself, who,
according to Berkoff, erred in creating characters that "tend to be
cardboard cutouts designed to make Hamlet look good."
Traditionalists will be appalled at Berkoff's irreverent attitude
toward the text, which has been radically cut (sometimes, it seems,
precisely to make Hamlet look good). But actors and directors
approaching this most difficult of plays should be interested to
learn just how Berkoff staged it and what he took each line to mean
- both literally and emotionally. What is missing in this very
personal promptbook, however, is a record of the process by which
the staged results were arrived at - as in Anthony Sher's much more
satisfying The Year of the King (1987 - not reviewed). Furthermore,
this line-by-line dissection of the text will prove rough going for
those who didn't actually see Berkoff's Hamlet, since the author's
prose is often too vague or blustery to be descriptive. In short,
"My kingdom for a videotape." (Kirkus Reviews)
What goes through a man's mind when he is playing Hamlet? How does
Shakespeare's best known play actually work, from the inside? And
what effect does playing Hamlet have on a man's life? Steven
Berkoff nine years ago directed a production of "Hamlet" in which
he took the title role, and here are his scene-by-scene
observations, which cover the whole range of human experience -
from love and death, to life in Britain now. "I am Hamlet" not only
shows the mind of an actor at work, but it is also an expression of
the lasting authority of Shakespeare's play.
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