All The Devils Are Here: How Shakespeare Invented the Villain

Performance
Octopus Theatricals
ArtsEmerson
Paramount Theater
Washington Street, Boston
October 28 – November 1, 2026

With Patrick Page

Creator and Performer: Patrick Page; Director: Simon Godwin; Scenic Designer: Arnulfo Maldonado; Costume Designer: Emily Rebholz; Lighting Designer: Stacey Derosier; Lighting Supervisor: Avery Reagan; Sound Designer: Darron L. West; Associate Sound Designer: Ryan Matthew Hall; Associate Scenic Designer: Joe Burt; Tour Production Manager: Bethany Weinstein Stewert (Stewert Productions); Tour Technical Director: William Adams; Production Stage Manager: Natalie Hratko

As Patrick Page eloquently frames it, Shakespeare starts with a fairly straightforward presentation of badness in his early plays like Titus Andronicus and works his way forward, featuring dastardly icons from Richard III (Richard), Macbeth (Macbeth and Lady Macbeth), The Merchant of Venice (Shylock), Othello (Iago), Hamlet (Claudius), Measure for Measure (Angelo) and King Lear (Edmund), with a few more thrown in. Page gives deep and resonant performances of excerpts from the plays, sometimes with pairs of characters together, that he evokes capably and powerfully.

Page is a gifted solo performer who grabs his audience with a powerfully rich voice and a wonderfully relaxed stage manner. He presents almost as though he is welcoming the audience into his living room, and the tone of the performance is more like an anecdotal amalgamation of his experiences with, and insights into, the characters involved. Clearly, he loves Shakespeare, and though he is perhaps best known from his Broadway personification of Hades in Hadestown, he has had extensive experience with Shakespeare and he brings a breadth of vivid and penetrating experience with Shakespearean productions to this amalgamation of anecdote, analytical discourse and dramatic performance.

His analysis is indeed interesting, venturing to dissect and categorize the particular qualities of evil which each of these bad boys and girls bring out: Richard III has evil in him because it just seems to be part of who he is; Macbeth and Lady Macbeth choose evil as a course of action; Claudius is evil, even though Shakespeare portrays him praying, and Iago is evil because he essentially is a sociopath.

Page does a very funny turn with Iago’s sociopathy and notes that researchers have indicated that there are well-documented analyses of closet sociopathy in which sociopaths present outwardly as normal human beings but bear very few internal qualities of empathic people. As well, he notes that some significant percentage of the population is thought to be sociopathic – maybe 5% – and he identifies that even in the audience there were likely to be 15 or so sociopaths present – very funny indeed, sort of. And, without dwelling on it too much, but with obvious intent, he relates that quality to certain unspecified current political leaders – ironically tragic, not so funny.

Particularly interesting is Page’s analysis of Shylock (from The Merchant of Venice), who is portrayed as a villain by Shakespeare, but, as Page underlines, the most human of villains, who gives a comprehensive and thoughtful presentation of his own case. If there is villainy in Shylock, it is the most elliptical and in many ways forgiven form of it, and Page gives a lovely rendition of Shylock’s famed and poignantly notorious self-defense.

Also curious is Page’s presentation of Prospero (from The Tempest, Shakespeare’s last play) as a kind of villain, though only because he studies the dark arts and uses them to his advantage. But Prospero is a kind villain, if a villain at all. Interestingly, Page does not present Caliban (also from The Tempest) as a villain, even though he is much more akin to one than Prospero. But, Page seems focused on powerful and self-possessed characters who wield demonic power, and though Prospero’s use of it is ultimately benevolent, his capacity to wield it attracts Page to include him in this roster.

Page’s voice is intoxicatingly reverberant and one could certainly listen to him intone endlessly. However, at some points – I don’t know whether it is a function of his resonant voice or the quality of the sound amplification – I found it difficult to ferret out the meanings of the Shakespeare lines he was intoning. Of course, Shakespeare is innately elliptical and frequently difficult to interpret, but, in this case, though intoxicating and entrancing, it was sometimes problematic to get the meanings. Perhaps the non-contextualized narrative snapshots had something to do with it, but I think, as well, that Page’s voice is so deep (and wonderful indeed) that it sometimes, if not amplified exactly to perfection, can rumble. This was something of note, though not a major detraction from the overall quality of the performance which is powerful and penetrating.

All in all this was a delightful evening, full of passion and insight. Page is a terrific host and brings thought and insight into his performances. The staging is thoughtfully and dramatically done, with good lighting, sound effects, and overall drama.

– BADMan (aka Charles Munitz)