Julieta Cervantes
Patrick Page knows of what he speaks. The Tony– and Grammy-nominated star of Hadestown—and, as the Green Goblin, venerable survivor of Spiderman: Turn Off the Dark—has played many of Shakespeare’s villains.
In his 85-minute one-man play, All the Devils Are Here: How Shakespeare Invented the Villain (DR2 Theatre, booking to Jan 7, 2024), Page wants to analyze not just what makes the villains tick, but how and why Shakespeare created such lasting characters, and character types for villains that have followed for centuries since on stage and screen, and why we love watching them. It is a simple stage, with a dramatic swoop of theater curtain, and sundry objects; Stacey Derosier’s lighting is an evocative mood-setter. Excellent dry ice machine, too.
Page intersperses his analysis and history with enacted monologues from the plays, beginning with Lady Macbeth’s “Come, you spirits/Make thick my blood” speech from Macbeth, which sets the tone. In terms of texts chosen, this is an unapologetic greatest hits exercise. The pleasure of it is less in revelation or alighting on a new or radical theory of Shakespearean villainy, but in Page’s expert and smooth recitations of text, and his concise analysis.