The actor Steven Berkoff is famous for playing villains in TV, Film & Theatre. In this monologue Berkoff talks about the different types of Villain.
Some of the famous characters Berkoff has played are:
General Orlov in James Bond (Octopussy)
Lt.Col Podovsky in Rambo
Victor Maitland in Beverley Hills Cop
Adolf Hitler in War and Remembrance
Transcript
Shakespeare’s Villains: Steven Berkoff
What is a villain? A person who is motivated purely by their own lusts, desires and greed irrespective of the pain they may cause you or even inspired by the pain they may cause you.
A villain is someone who had little love in their early life and therefore they have no pattern, no way of expressing love. I think love is a uniquely human thing. It’s got to be learned and Lago was like an under nourished tree that could only give off bad fruit. The milk of human kindness does not run through his veins, the milkman didn’t leave it there that day. Anyway for the purpose of today’s little chat I’ve categorised villains into various types; various shades. You’ve got brilliant villains; witty villains; idiot villains; Machiavellian villains; sloppy villains; mediocre villains. And as far as I am concerned Lago is a mediocre villain small minded petty; jealous of everything that you possess; jealous of your skills; jealous of your money; jealous of your ability to work a computer and most of all jealous of the love that you inspire because nobody can love a villain. You can admire, revere a villain; you can be frightened of a villain; but you cannot love a villain: because to love you have to be open; vulnerable and naked. Because a villain is armoured tight; hiding behind a wall of fear from which they occasionally peep out. So dear Lago is a mediocre Villain. That doesn’t mean to say that mediocrity is a crime. Most of you are mediocre that’s why you go to the theatre to watch other mediocrity. But mediocrity dressed in the great language of Shakespeare; dressed in those great philosophies, those insights, those parables. So we actors hold up the mirror to nature.
No mediocrity is not a crime Aristotle the great Greek philosopher said that compassion is the height of awareness, simple compassion, the ability to be sensitive, to feel, to be sensitive to other people. Even a charlady can have compassion and a genius be totally bereft of any compassion. Anyway just to get to the plot. Casio who is Othello’s lieutenant gets blinding drunk one night, of course organised by me (Lago); why? Because I want to bring him down a peg that guy stuffed shirt. You are one of these oxfords kind of fag who gets his job not because of any skill on the ground as I did but because of his contacts; he’s a bit pompous arsehole. So I get him really well pissed so he looses his reputation: he looses in front of Othello; which it’s a terrible thing to loose your reputation. Yes very, very bad thing. Many times I have lost my reputation, you know when a critic decides to defecate upon my head from a great height, I loose my reputation; as I read the reviews it’s as if a stink comes off the page and surrounds me and I can’t leave the house for days until the critic decides to drop his load on someone else and the smell travels over there. But when I read the reviews written about my colleague, I read with compassion. Yes, schadenfreude, I enjoy that and schadenfreude you know what that is, that’s the pleasure we have out of someone else’s pain and schadenfreude is Lago’s favourite wine, a little bit like Chardonnay only somewhat drier.
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