And so with a lump in my throat (and another on my back) we bid a sad farewell to the mighty War of the Roses.
I did get to play the Hunchback of Withered-Arm once at drama-school but only the first few scenes. A fellow Thespian-friend was Lady Anne and took great delight it the fact that she got to spit in my face nightly! If this wasn't bad enough my director, in reaction to this spittle-fest, had me wipe it away with a finger and then lick it! Truly evil and equally unwholesome - but then that was this particular director all over! (Thank you! Thank you! I'm here all week!)
Once more this play produces a plethora of juicy quotes - mainly from
the great-Gloucester. A particular favourite again comes from his scene
with Lady Anna. Standing by the coffin of the king he killed Richard
overwhelms and wins Lady Anne thanks to some bare-faced cheek and some
bare-chested bravado! He then gloats of his new found power to bend the will of others!
"Was ever woman in this humour woo'd?
Was ever woman in this humour won?
I'll have her; — but I will not keep her long."
Richard wants to be a villain and he succeeds. He's certainly close to the top when it comes to the Bard's Bully-boys and Bad'uns. I may have to look at a top-ten Heroes and Villains when reading dust has finally settled.
And Finally - So all Mad Margaret's prophecies came true. But what gave her such insight? I think it's the Head of Suffolk (see Henry VI Part 2) that she kept all this time. She covets his zombie-bonce because, like Orpheus before him, it carried on speaking after death, telling her all the juicy future gossip. (Plus it made a great novelty nut-cracker!)...
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