Steven Berkoff – Salome

Watch Salome

Berkoff’s Salome and postmodernism  Playfulness and self reference  Berkoff’s performance – playfulness?  Playfulness in the chorus?  Generic blurring  Acting, soundscape, music, mime (post modern)  Intertextuality  Performance of Wilde’s Salome  Uses total theatre techniques  Influenced by Jacques Le Coq and Martha Graham  Uses Greek Theatre conventions – chorus  Eclecticism  Artistic pluralism. Mixture of performance styles – acting, slow motion, mime  Music and soundscape as well as acting

Berkoff’s Salome and postmodernism  Popular and commercial meets high culture  Commercialising or bringing something to the masses which isn’t usually performed (e.g. Salome)  Fragmentation and the death of representation  Over exaggerated personas – representational characters  Unpredictability of the performance – we don’t know when the chorus are going to change tempo or performance style. We also don’t know what is going to happen next  Persona of Steven Berkoff?  Uncertainty and the loss of content  Set design – simple and stripped back?  What effect does the tempo of the performance have on an audience member?  Parody, pastiche and irony  Does Berkoff imitate?  Is there a contrast between expectations and what actually happens?

Homework Revisit and watch the rest of Salome and East ensure notes are complete