Steven Berkoff

Steven Berkoff

The twenty fifth person in our series of introductions to performers taking part in International Poetry ReIncarnation at the Roundhouse in Camden on 30th May 2015 is the actor, director and poet Steven Berkoff.

Steven Berkoff was born in Stepney, London. Among the many adaptations Berkoff has created for the stage, directed and toured are The Trial and Metamorphosis (Kafka), Agamemnon (after Aeschylus), and The Fall Of The House Of Usher (Poe). He has also directed and toured productions of Shakespeare’s Coriolanus (also playing the title role), Richard II (for the New York Shakespeare Festival), Hamlet and Macbeth as well as Oscar Wilde’s Salomé.

“I’ve been writing poetry for years and I’m putting together my collected poetry in one huge volume, called Poetry for the Working Class. Slightly ironic title to distance it from poetry about brooks, trees and flowers. I’ve written some dramatic poems, one on the Warsaw ghetto uprising in 1943, called ‘Uprising’. One about the Blair Years, called ‘Albion’ and one about the horrific 9/11 tragedy called ‘Requiem for Ground Zero’, which I have also performed at the Edinburgh Festival. What I feel about my poetry is that it should be performed; I’m pleased to be able to read some of them for the current poetry festival.”

Get your tickets for the evening’s star-laden performance here: The International Poetry ReIncarnation