[NoHo Arts District, CA] – A NoHo Arts theatre review of All the Devils Are Here, written and performed by acclaimed actor Patrick Page, directed by Simon Godwin, and running through January 25, 2026.
An exploration of the very best of Shakespeare’s villains and a fascinating foray into how they became so utterly evil is possibly just about the most perfectly timed piece of theatre I could ever conjure.
Patrick Page, the highly acclaimed and suddenly everywhere actor, was, quite simply, born for this brilliant and perceptive journey through this canon of multi-dimensional brutes.
Page’s interpretation of every bad guy from the delicious Iago to the absolutely psychotic Richard III is with deft assistance from his director, Simon Godwin, who is not only the artistic director of The Shakespeare Theatre but an associate director of the National Theatre in London…oh how I dream of the National! These two partners in criminology manage to bring alive and give reason to the necessary darkness in every story made in the mind of a genius.
Of course, we all know that many of his plays were full of pinched plots and pieces from everyone from the ancient Greeks to his contemporary Marlow. But setting aside the obvious, Page takes the firm position that Shakespeare took what was traditionally a comedic turn in a bawdy historical village play and made these men fiercely real. He made them human, in fact, and therefore much much worse. With their mentally gymnastic soliloquies and their slithery fantastical manipulations, and with some, their innate ability to be manipulated. Was Macbeth, for instance, led by the nose or was he merely unlocked?
Page plays each part with his own masterful insights and worshipful study, and these devils charm us with every evil sigh.
Charm. Patrick Page has it in boatloads. Tall and handsome with a voice that can curdle milk and then make butter from it. He is the epitome of an American Shakespearean actor. When he speaks, I forget that England is my home and all Shakespeare must be just as English as I am. There’s a rhythm in the American English patter that does something strange to Shakespeare. It gives it a smokiness and a silkiness that is most persuasive. Perhaps American is not so far from the English lilt that was commonly spoken in Elizabethan England. But whatever it is, Patrick Page’s timber is famously riveting. To have him then, standing on a stage beneath an arbour of lights with a sprinkling of props and wardrobe changes hidden away like little gifts to the characters and the phenomenal prose of the bard and of Page himself…well, it is some kind of heaven for this theatre writer, I can tell you.
Ninety minutes of non-stop wooing from Patrick Page and his achingly brilliant portrayals of the fallen hero and the happily broken. All powerful men, all treacherous and full of reasons for their twisted lives. As if we all need to be reminded just how close we are to stepping into the darkness that, right now, seems all around us.
All the Devils are Here is an utterly gorgeous tribute to the nasty and the corrosive characters from the mind of the world’s greatest writer. Every moment of this play is a masterclass in not only the language of Shakespeare, but it also reveals how these devils grew to be.
The push here, the slight there, the pressure, the jealousy, the snap. It’s all here in this wonderful, beautifully written and expertly performed play. If you see one play this winter, then let it be All The Devils Are Here.
There is only one more weekend of bliss available…don’t be a twit and miss it!
Tickets:
https://broadstage.org/tickets-shows/calendar/all-the-devils-are-here/\
https://www.patrickpageonline.com | https://broadstage.org
Where:
The BroadStage
1310 11th St, Santa Monica
When:
January 15-25