Steven Berkoff took audiences through a whirlwind tour of Shakespeare's Villains at Sofia's Aleko Konstantinov Satirical Theatre on June 3.

Berkoff, who chooses to present villains on the basis that "the sicker the patient, the more interesting he is to the doctor", ran through the gamut: the obvious choices, Iago, whom he dubbed "the mediocre villain", through to Shakespeare's titanic monsters – Richard III and Macbeth – through to characters most audiences would deem unlikely 'villains' – Coriolanus and Hamlet.

An intensely physical actor – Berkoff has an elastic face that can veer between sinister hardman, mincing effeminacy and timidity in the space of seconds – his production was a single-hander devoid of props, a burlesque interspersed with humorous but slightly venomous asides about critics and gentle mocking of venerable thespians' attempts to master the intricacies of Shakespeare's verse. For example, he did a nice impersonation of Al Pacino trundling off to learn about iambic pentameter from academics.

Judging by his comments, Berkoff dislikes the theatre of extravagant special effects – eerie music leading up to the appearance, for example, of Hamlet's father's ghost on the battlements, or fake smoke rising up through the floorboards. So one supposes the simplicity of Berkoff's choice – just him on an empty stage – makes the point that audiences should focus on the text and the interpretation rather than artificial effects created, he says, by directors "with nothing between their brains".

Berkoff also appears to have little time for knighthoods bestowed on actors. He even enacted the charade of the Queen bestowing a knighthood on a distinguished thespian. And in a kind of false flattery pretended to be proud that Sir Ian McKellen lived near him. He then imitated a knight walking up a street in full armour.

Particularly effective was his mock-aggressive interpretation of Lady Macbeth (complete with protruding tongue) stirring her husband to murder Duncan, all enacted with a Scottish brogue and some funny asides about the deficiencies of Glaswegian women – "not like in Sofia" – he added. Also good was his Shylock, not the version of modern interpretation but the character as – Berkoff claims – Shakespeare envisioned him, unkempt and ghettoised and forced into usury by anti-Semitism.

Perhaps his funniest routine was his interpretation of Hamlet. "Leaving Wittenberg, where he has been studying philosophy, he returns to Elsinore and within six months he becomes a serial killer," quipped Berkoff. A genuine tour de force was his interpretation of the closet scene as he mimics an actor over-reliant on props trying to negotiate his way through various obstacles.

Berkoff says he would like to play Othello but that the "PC fascists" in charge of British theatre would never allow that. "Do you need a virgin to play Juliet? How would you get beyond the audition?" he says.

In a question and answer session Berkoff said that he was no academic and that his interpretations were that of a layman trying to make stories accessible through humour.

Bulgarian subtitles transmitted Berkoff's lines above the theatre (although my wife claimed they were slightly out of sync) to a full house in the presence of the director  of the British Council in Bulgaria, Tony Buckby, and the British ambassador in Bulgaria, Steve Williams. 

My only complaint: the chairs in the Satirical Theatre are not made for six-footers like me and a small cup of cappuccino was ridiculously expensive (3.20 leva). Other than that, the evening was very enjoyable.

Berkoff's next (and final) performance in Bulgaria is at the Stoyan Bachvarov Drama Theatre in Varna at 7pm on June 4.