Linda Marlowe in Berkoff's WomenBerkoff's Women

  • PREMIÈRED AUGUST 1999 AT EDINBURGH FESTIVAL - Assembly Rooms
  • OVER 100 TOURING PERFORMANCES FOR GMPS
  • PRESENTED BY GUY MASTERSON PRODUCTIONS
  • from the works of steven berkoff
  • compiled & performed by linda marlowe
  • directed by josie lawrence
  • NOMINATED THE STAGE BEST ACTRESS 1999

SYNOPSIS:

"HOW SWEET OF YOU TO COME ON TIME... BASTARDS!" (Decadence)

Out of her unique association with Steven Berkoff, Linda Marlowe presents a stunning theatrical exploration about what it means to be a Berkoff woman in Berkoff's own words.

Having worked with Berkoff for twenty-five years, this work is a compilation of some of the most rewarding, exciting moments of Berkoff's roles for women, featuring excerpts from Decadence, Greek, East, Agamemnon plus a newly dramatised short story From My Point of View.

It's a bold and daring collection of different aspects of women portrayed with stark undiscriminating realism in a variety of performance styles. From a beautiful description of the tenderest lovemaking to the coarsest sex talk, from the most painful vulnerability and loneliness to a blood soaked stabbing, Berkoff's pictures are painted with unnerving accuracy.

The show premiered at the 1999 Edinburgh Festival selling out the Assembly Rooms. It since returned to Edinburgh 3 times and has played over 500 performances all over the world making it one of the most successful solo shows of all time.

Reviews:

"Berkoff's trenchant demotic writing demands full frontal attack, but we find here pathos and loneliness too. "Berkoff's Women" is a beautifully arranged compendium of rhetoric, disgust, sensuality and erotic vignettes. Linda Marlowe has become one of our most powerful uninhibited actresses and in this astonishing show, she is at the height of her powers. When she spreads her arms she embraces the world. Her voice is an instrument of silk and seduction, frayed at the edges and pickled in port." (Michael Coveney, Daily Mail 27/08/99)

"Linda Marlowe plugs straight into your arteries! Her performance has extraordinary range; vocally, choreographically and emotionally... proof that whether a whore or a saint, a woman can be a virtuoso." (The Independent 18/08/99)

"Being in the same room with a diva of such force as Marlowe is a terrifying prospect!" (The Times 09/08/99)

"Marlowe is a consummate actress; gorgeous to look at, slinky and sexy, sensual and impassioned, breathtakingly versatile. She can curse with alluring and compelling charm! It was brilliant. A veritable tour de force." (The Scotsman 09/08/99)

"Berkoff's tight onomatopoeic verse is ridden like a wild stallion! It is a tribute to the genius of Berkoff and the awe inspiring greatness of Linda Marlowe's acting" (The List 19/08/99)