All the Devils are Here, Shakespeare Theatre Company

Patrick Page is back again at Shakespeare Theatre Company, this time with a question in hand: how much did Shakespeare create our understanding of a villain, and how can we track the evolutions of his villains across his playwrighting career? Over the course of an evening called All the Devils are Here: How Shakespeare Invented the Villain, Page embodies a score of characters from Shakespeare with even a toe dipped into morality plays and the work of Christopher Marlowe.

Patrick Page in All the Devils are Here. Photo by Julieta Cervantes.

It is always worth stating that Patrick Page is an excellent Shakespearean actor, with a titanic grasp of the text and a nimble ability to convey a multitude of nuances in every beat. A one-man show such as this is a perfect vessel for his talents, combining an affable direct address to the audience with the choicest cuts from Shakespeare’s plays, ranging from Aaron the Moor to Shylock to both Macbeths. Villains reveal their motivations, or make their threats or plot their evildoing, and Page draws a convincing (if perhaps overly simplified) line of increasingly complex portraits of the darker sides of human nature out of Shakespeare's canon. Nevertheless, it's a treat to see such a skilled performer embody a multitude of characters in a single night, and to see the various transformations Page enacts with voice, body, posture, and the occasional boost from lighting or small costume adjustments. Arnulfo Maldonado's set design is spare but leaves room for the artist team at large to do their work, and Stacey Derosier's lighting in particular helps to shift the mood and isolate each moment.

In many ways, it feels as though the right audience for Devils will easily find it, whether they come looking for an evening with an actor whose reputation is draw enough, or the Shakespeare enthusiasts ready to hear a cogent theory or who just want a glimpse of what Page's take on the canon's rogues gallery could be. If "Patrick Page does a one man show about all the best villains in Shakespeare" sounds appealing, please do yourself a favor and come to the Shakespeare Theatre Company forthwith. If it doesn't sound up your alley from any angle, well, we in the audience won't miss you.