(lively piano music) - Well I think this is a play frankly, little short of genius.
It's a very remarkable piece.
How Mike cooked this up in a room on his own, I simply cannot begin to imagine.
He has created a modern Shakespearean history play.
King Richard II, King Richard III, King Charles III It's absolutely in that line.
- [Kate] My husband, what say you?
- Nothing.
- Say more, for nothing comes of nothing said.
- And he's written it in a modern blank verse.
Almost like a modern rap.
- Without my voice and spirit, I am dust.
This is not what I want, but what I must.
- The language heightens it in such a way that allows you to suspend your disbelief about... We're watching these characters that we feel we all know.
But having that kind of rich language, but slightly removed from how we speak today, allows, I feel, the audience to go with what's happening.
It allows the audience to feel that these characters are real yet separate.
And so, I feel that it makes the story even more sort of pertinent, and real, and emotive.
- This appointed house we share is yours not mine.
You will be king.
Kate your queen.
Even if our father's making waves, at least he's allowed to choose his course, but I just chase your wake.
- The rhythms of the blank verse elevate the dialogue from the everyday into the dramatic.
You know, sometimes even almost into the operatic, and I think, unashamedly so.
I think that's what elevates this family drama to a state, majestic level.
That's what gives it the kind of punch to the sternum.
(lively piano music)
