Steven Berkoff Plays 3

(Paperback, Main)

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This third collection by Steven Berkoff is made up of three history plays, each displaying the sparkling muscularity of language that marks him out as one of the foremost wordsmiths in the English language.Set in thirteenth-century England, Ritual in Blood looks at the persecution of the Jews and, by implication, the persecution of all peoples. One small incident frighteningly escalates and mob hatred is fomented by the cool cynicism of the moneyed classes. The Messiah begins with the image of Christ on the cross and pits His humanity and transcendent goodness against the evil of those who would kill him and all he stands for. In the final play, Berkoff offers a sharp and accessible adaptation of Sophocles's Oedipus tragedy.

Author Bio

There is no one like Berkoff and there'll never be another.' Daily MailSteven Berkoff was born in Stepney, East London and started acting at the City Literary Institute when he was 19. Following more training at the Webber Douglas School of Drama, he worked extensively in repertory theatre in England and Scotland - doing every job from understudy to stage management. In 1968 he formed his own company, the London Theatre Group. Through mime, gymnastics and voice, the Group liberated themselves from the conventions of mainstream theatre and started to evolve an innovative, more integrated theatrical language. Berkoff's encounter with the mime artist Jacque le Coq in Paris was seminal in this.Steven Berkoff's plays include East, West, Sink the Belgrano!, Decadence, Kvetch, Acapulco, Ritual in Blood and Oedipus, which Faber publishes in Steven Berkoff: Plays 1. Faber also publishes Berkoff's