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Berkoff

Influences:

Laurence Olivier - apparent from his one-man show ‘Shakespeare’s Villains’.

Edmund Kean - admired as an actor and viewed as a role model, presenter of Shakespeare and combined passion with melodrama.

Bertolt Brecht - German playwright who left Germany once Hitler came to power, plays show an anti-fascist stance, ‘Verfremdungeffekt’ (alienation effect) used by Berkoff where actors destroy naturalism by e.g. addressing the audience.

Antonin Artaud - creates the manifestos of Theatre of Cruelty, wanted to move from staid structured melodrama towards a theatre reinvigorated by danger and cruelty, using the power of words and gestures to release emotions, >> Berkoff follows this by creating his own Three Theatre Manifestos.

Jean-Louis Barrault - developed his use of mime on theatre which influenced Berkoff when he founded the London Theatre Group.

Jacques Le Coq - mime, movement, masks and ensemble acting.