Kirjahaku

This is the second of two volumes of the collected plays of Steven Berkoff. The book includes "Decadence", "Kvetch", "Acapulco", "Harry's Christmas", "Brighton Beach Scumbags", "Darling You Were Marvellous", "Pitbull" and "Actor".

Steven Berkoff is a phenomenon. Among the artists working in the theatre today he is probably the most theatrical - his special combination of speech, movement and spectacle is uniquely powerful. This first collection of his plays includes East, described by Berkoff as 'an outburst or revolt against the sloth of my youth and a desire to turn a welter of undirected passion and frustration into a positive form'. Also included in this collection are the plays West and Sink the Belgrano!

Steven Berkoff has been variously described as controversial, thrilling, electric and dynamic. A Renaissance man of the theatre, he is known equally for his writing, directing and acting. Collecting together nineteen one-act plays, this volume presents never-before-published material. Abusive, shocking and endlessly surprising, these sharply written pieces showcase Berkoff's trademark controversy, black humour and dramatic dialectics.Themes that haunt much of his work are present: his luxurious verbosity; his counterpoint of crude street-patter and elegiac proclamation; sex wars; class wars; dislocation and abandonment of love in a thankless and unyielding world. The selection of plays allows the performer and reader to experience Berkoff's fluid anarchic poetry at its most profane within the complete and pithy structure of the one-act play. Established plays such as The Biblical Tales (which enjoyed success in their 2010 run at the New End Theatre, Hampstead) stand alongside previously unpublished material, giving the range of Berkoff's work full expression, from his established thematic concerns to his new and unseen work.Perfect for student and amateur performances, this volume contains a full introduction by Geoffrey Colman, Head of Acting at the Central School of Speech and Drama.

A World Elsewhere is Steven Berkoff’s bold attempt to describe his multifarious theatrical works.Berkoff outlines the methods that he uses, first of all as an actor, secondly as a playwright and thirdly as theatre director, as well as those subtle connections in between, when one discipline melds effortlessly into another. He examines the early impulses that generated his works and what drove him to give them form, as well as the challenges he faced when adapting the work of other authors. Berkoff discusses some of his most difficult, successful and unique creations, journeying through his long and varied career to examine how they were shaped by him, and how he was shaped by them. The sheer scale of this book offers a rare experience of an accomplished artist, combined with the honesty and insight of an autobiography, making this text a singular tool for teaching, inspiration and personal exploration.Suitable for anyone with an interest in Steven Berkoff and his illustrious career, A World Elsewhere is the part analysis and part confession of an artist whose work has been performed all over the world.

A World Elsewhere is Steven Berkoff’s bold attempt to describe his multifarious theatrical works.Berkoff outlines the methods that he uses, first of all as an actor, secondly as a playwright and thirdly as theatre director, as well as those subtle connections in between, when one discipline melds effortlessly into another. He examines the early impulses that generated his works and what drove him to give them form, as well as the challenges he faced when adapting the work of other authors. Berkoff discusses some of his most difficult, successful and unique creations, journeying through his long and varied career to examine how they were shaped by him, and how he was shaped by them. The sheer scale of this book offers a rare experience of an accomplished artist, combined with the honesty and insight of an autobiography, making this text a singular tool for teaching, inspiration and personal exploration.Suitable for anyone with an interest in Steven Berkoff and his illustrious career, A World Elsewhere is the part analysis and part confession of an artist whose work has been performed all over the world.

Harry is a dedicated actor, often out of work, rejected and desperate for opportunities to practice his art. Brief moments of success only serve to increase his thirst for fulfillment. In these moving, sometimes harrowing short stories Steven Berkoff, tears the skin off the acting profession to reveal the raw, bleeding reality of the actors everyday life.

Steven Berkoff was asked to direct Shakespeare's Richard II in New York early 1994. It was a project he found fascinating: performing an Elizabethan play within the scrapers of Manhattan and the still rotting slums of the Lower East Side, between the steaming breath oozing out from the cracked pipes and the brutality of modern New York speak. New York became the backdrop and the energy centre which charged him each day and fed his inspiration. This book offers a wonderful insight into the many characters, challenges and places that were integral to the project and details how gradually the production took form. Served by a first-rate company that worked incredibly hard, the achievement was a critically acclaimed production and the fulfilment of a personal goal to direct the Bard. NEW YORK POST This morning I have joy to report - so let the trumpets sound and the canons roar! Last night at the Anspacher Auditorium of the Joseph Papp Public Theater, there opened a production of The Tragedy of Richard II which can hold its own with the world's best in Shakespearean stagings.NEW YORK SUNDAY TIMES The Tragedy of Richard II now being given an exceptionally stylish production by Steven Berkoff. Mr Berkoff's production, which, among many virtues, is so well and clearly spoken and so clean of dramatic line that it's accessible from start to finish...THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER NEW YORK - They'll be talking about this Richard II for years.

Two powerful stage adaptations from the master of physical theatre.