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Adaptations of novels or stories often suffer in a different media, and adaptations of famous works suffer from over-reverence. Compare the tame filming of the novels of Graham Greene with the film script written by Greene himself (The Third Man). Like Greene, Berkoff understands the essence of the story and the power of the medium. Berkoff´s adaptations and direction are spectacular theatre.
1974 The Fall of the House of Usher Poe's most famous story. Berkoff
says it is "about energy twisted in upon itself. It
is about the refined last stages of obsessive
madness".
1981 The Tell-Tale Heart A solo piece performed along with Pitbull and Actor. Poe's tale is a psychological monologue of a murderer confronted with the police. This isn't an adaptation but a performed reading of the original piece. You can read the text here. Object there was none. Passion there was none
1973 Miss Julie versus Expressionism Berkoff adapts Strindberg´s Miss Julie. Berkoff states in Free Association "I had to work out a new piece of theatre. Why I decided on Julie I don't quite know, except that I thought it would be a good double act for Maggie Jordan and myself... we were getting nowhere fast since I was congenitally incapable of doing it for real, with a real table and chairs and pots and pans... I changed the order of events, much like a collage, and pieced together themes of the play so that one scene collided into another, much as if you were watching a series of trailers for a film".
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1971 Agamemnon Berkoff´s adaptation of Aeschylus' Greek drama. Berkoff says "these plays (Agamemnon and Usher) were written to exorcise certain demons struggling within me to escape. Agamemnon is filtered through my own impressions of Greece and is rooted in the elements of landscape, and sea... It is about heat and battle, fatigue, the marathon and the obscenity of modern and future wars".
Blood will have blood/ The high will fall/ the ghosts of men who died for nothing/ will walk and wail by a ruined wall
Oedipus
The country is barren and Oedipus the king learns that the devastation is caused by the murder of King Laius. He must seek out the murderer to save the country. But the curse goes further and Oedipus finds himself drawn down into horrors he cannot bear to see. Unwittingly he breaks taboo after taboo and incurs the wrath of the gods, the same gods who laid out his path to destruction. The adaptation is clear, similar to the Pasolini film version. Published in 2000, Blackeyed Theatre premiered the piece in 2008. The image is from this production.
On the Waterfront
Uwittingly implicated in Joey's murder, Terry starts to question where his loyalties lie. When he falls for the dead man’s beautiful sister, he enlists the help of the street-wise Father Barry to bring down the racketeers. The classic story of the guy who ‘coulda been a contender', On the Waterfront is best known for Elia Kazan's multi-Oscar winning film, starring Marlon Brando. Berkoff adapts the famous film for the stage, with a minimal staging (chairs and a backdrop) and lots of mime. |
