I, in this weak piping time of peace, have no delight to pass away the time...

Sunday, cigarette #1
Post-Shakespeare cigarette

"Not to relent is beastly, savage, devilish; which of you, if you were a prince's son, being pent from liberty as I cam now, if two such murderers as yourself came to you, would not entreat for life? My friend, I spy some pity in thy looks; O, if thine eye be not a flatterer, come thou on my side, and entreat for me, as you would beg, were you in my distress: a begging prince what beggar pities not?"

"Look behind you, my lord! Take that, and that!"

The Shakespeare Project (tagline: "Where the cold readings can get hot...") tackled Richard III last night.

The Cast
Lady Anne, the Duchess of York, and Murderer #2: Me
Queen Elizabeth, Murderer #1, and a pursuivant: Housemate Dara
Everybody else: Some other people

Immediate reactions
1. Who in the world decided that Lady Margaret could keep hanging around?
2. If Lady Anne and Richard flirt between acts ("Of all my dead wives, you're my favorite"), does this add to or take away from the plot?
3. Strewing sugar on a bottled spider sounds, actually, kind of fun.

Considered reactions
1. There are obviously several instances in the play of apparent strengths turning out to be weaknesses. (Being evil means you're never held back by scruples, but it also means that everybody hates you. If you kill every other member of your family you get to be king, but then if you die the throne passes to whole the other side.) There are fewer examples of apparent weakness turning out to be a kind of strength. Maybe Princess Elizabeth?
2. Film versions: For all its abridgements, Ian McKellen's is better than Olivier's for one reason: Richard must be killed by someone more attractive than he is. There's a parallel between "Evil will get you far, but to succeed completely you must be virtuous" and "Evil men are sometimes hot, but never beautiful," and Stanley Baker doesn't get us there. (Also, the only way McKellen could have made me want to kill Queen Elizabeth even more was to cast Annette Bening.)
3. Internet video: This modernized version is interesting for no other reason than that Richard gets his most evil moment taking a cigarette out of a personalized cigarette case — one instance where I'm happy to have smoking used to telegraph "HEY THIS GUY'S EVIL."