Total Theatre

Berkoff has reached worldwide fame for his unique and defined style of theatre, coined: Total Theatre. It has earned this name by attempting to emphasise and combine all of the human senses, through many different means of theatre techniques, such as intense/ a specific colour scheme of lighting (eg. Metamorphosis, which uses predominantly monotone lighting), distinct and unique sounds (these are a predominant pillar in most of his works), and mechanical, artificial human movements. 

Antonin Artuad - Artuad's 'Theatre of Cruelty' inspired the use of surrealist, unexpected, and highly demanding physical gestures to attack the audience's senses.

Greek theatre - Berkoff drew on the overly exaggerated physical storytelling off the ancient greek chorus in many of his works. Characters often use a mixture of poetic language and dialogue although it is often vulgar and crude, like in Bouncers remix which is inspired by Berkoff's works.

Kabuki theatre -The central pillar of Kubuki is 'jo-ha-kyo'. Jo is a slow predictable beginning in which the characters and basic plot is introduced. Ha is the quickening of events in the middle of the play, usually leading to a tragic moment in Berkoff's case. Finally, Kyo is a short and satisfying conclusion usually involving characters moving on quickly from tragedy.

Japanese Noh - meaning 'skill' in Japanese, Noh theatre focuses on dance and the emotional meaning behind movement. Berkoff took massive inspiration from the chorus-style dance routines and the use of masks.

Brecht - founding both political and episodic theatre, Brecht's use of 'Gestus' (theatrical techniques coming together to expose something about current-day society) as a way of conveying character, stood out to Berkoff who subsequently used it in his works. A notable example being Mr Samsa in Metamorphosis.

Inspirations