How Patrick Page Summons Devils in His New Solo Show

Scar in ā€œThe Lion King.ā€ The Green Goblin in ā€œSpider-Man: Turn Off the Dark.ā€ The titular green guy in ā€œHow the Grinch Stole Christmas.ā€ The actor Patrick Page (ā€œHadestownā€) has played every one of those Broadway villainsā€”and he brings all that experience to bear in the Off-Broadway solo show he both wrote and stars in, ā€œAll the Devils Are Here.ā€

Listen to this weekā€™s ā€œStagecraftā€ podcast below:

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Subtitled ā€œHow Shakespeare Invented the Villain,ā€ the show delves into all the ways the Bard depicted bad guys and evil-doers with depth, nuance and humanity that were, at the time, revolutionary. In the latest episode of ā€œStagecraft,ā€ Varietyā€™s theater podcast, Page theorized that his famously deep voice has probably contributed to his frequent casting in villain roles.

ā€œThereā€™s a strong tradition in the theater of those roles being more bass roles. I suppose that comes from opera,ā€ he said. And that tradition only contributes to the enduring habit that audiences have of judging a book by its cover: ā€œPeople still reflexively attach certain attributes to certain kinds of people. Sometimes itā€™s a vocal characteristic, or a physical characteristic, or behavioral characteristic. Weā€™re all guilty of that to some degree or another.ā€

Page, whoā€™s a classical actor in addition to his work in Broadway musicals, thinks Shakespeareā€™s explorations of his villainsā€™ humanity have become urgently relevant. ā€œShakespeare has something to say to us right now,ā€ he said. ā€œWeā€™re at a moment where we seem to choose sides very quickly and decide that someone is good or someone is bad, and then align with the good and identify ourselves with the good. I think itā€™s a very perilous thing to do. It means that weā€™re not looking inward to say: Well, where might I be mistaken?ā€

Also on the new ā€œStagecraft,ā€ Page talked about when he grew into his deep voice and how each individual audience develops its own personality over the course of a performance. In addition, he discussed the many ways that hearing loss has impacted his work and his lifeā€”and all the ways things improved, both onstage and off, once he began wearing hearing aids. ā€œI remember going outside and realizing there were birds in my neighborhood, because suddenly I could hear them,ā€ he said.

To hear the entire conversation, listen at the link above or download and subscribe to ā€œStagecraftā€ on podcast platforms including Apple PodcastsSpotify and the Broadway Podcast NetworkNew episodes of ā€œStagecraftā€ are released every other week.

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