Paul Adrian Fried / HAMLET'S BIBLE

𝘼𝙡𝙡 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝘿𝙚𝙫𝙞𝙡𝙨 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙃𝙚𝙧𝙚, Patrick Page's excellent one-man Shakespearean show, is at The Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, Minnesota after a strong run that generated very positive reviews in New York last year around this time. We attended the Minneapolis show and it was amazing, thoughtfully-written and edited, and very nicely supported with simple lighting and costume effects, but Page's acting is really the centerpiece. The Minneapolis Star-Tribune calls it "One of 2024′s best shows": The show has been designed in such a way that one does not have to know entire plots of the plays from which the villains lines are taken: Page gives enough information as needed, and then dives in, and it is all remarkably effective. The title comes from Shakespeare’s late play, 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘛𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘦𝘴𝘵: “Hell is empty, and all the devils are here.” Page explores some of the most famous villains, most of them male, but a few female, and he also admits in part of the s...

I am still on a bit of a break while researching for my next post in the Lazarus-in-Hamlet series. That next post will step back to examine other instances of "Lazarus," "lazar," "beg," and "beggar" in other works of Shakespeare besides Hamlet. (There are hundreds of instances of "beg," "beggar," "begging," "beggary.") But meanwhile, my daughter is a huge fan of the musical, Hadestown (words and music by Anaïs Mitchell), in which Patrick Page has played the role of Hades. Page has a podcast in which he occasionally discusses Shakespeare and Hamlet . [Image from Patrick Page Podcast . Fair use.] He has played many roles in Shakespeare plays, and also has a new one-man show, All the Devils are Here , via the Shakespeare Theater Company in Washington D.C. , a show whose title is taken from a line spoken by Ariel in The Tempest . The show features many Shakespearean villains, and was written and performed...