One of the things I loved about s01 is that there weren't exact 1:1 analogues for elements in the play versus elements in the show. For instance, both Geoffrey and Jack were in the Hamlet position, terrified of doing a thing yet having to do a thing and never forgiving themselves if they didn't do that thing. Geoffrey…

S&A isn't quite so literal… I found that in season 1, multiple elements of the play were reflected in multiple characters' lives. There wasn't a 1:1 correlation per se, which is all to the better. Too much direct representation is cheesy.

Look, the dude's an actor - he has to find a way to act attracted to her, and pretending very convincingly isn't all that far away from actually feeling some of it genuinely.

to Kateh:

The money allocated to her department is, in her opinion, money wasted. If she had her way, the gov't wouldn't have a ministry of culture, because its entire budget could go to more concrete things (like MRI machines). Just because you're given a job doesn't mean you have to philosophically like it.

Richard, I think, fills the role of "totally weak-willed person who found himself in a position of power, to everyone's detriment" that you see everywhere in life. His characteristics are heightened for the sake of comedy, but life (and especially administration) is filled with people who probably shouldn't be doing…

I don't think season 1 would have worked unless it spent that much time establishing how little Geoffrey wanted to be there. For me, the momentum picked up in episode 3 when he began to commit to the show, got a great performance out of the corporate people, and had a sword fight.

Probably just politics. It wouldn't be the first time an ambitious person got shuffled sideways against their wishes.

He's the polar opposite of Jack Crew - all the talent and none of the humility. Jack was easier to work with because he wanted to do justice to the text. Henry is a nightmare because he wants to do justice to his inflated idea of himself. He doesn't sublimate his performance to the source.

"And I saw something sticking out from under a pile of codpieces, and I said to myself, 'that looks like a maquette,' and it was!"

I really hated the [SPOILER] follow-up episodes. His defection was ok, but the one where Sisko chases him down and they're trading barbs like they all researched the hell out of Les Mis just because they knew to advance for verbal sparring… it was just cheesy. Too much of writers going "hey, wouldn't this line be…

I actually thought it was done well, and very true to their characters. The cruelest thing Ellen ever did to him was say yes, actually - you could see it in her face that she didn't really want to, that she wanted to preserve her fantasy that he was just a boytoy, and that maybe she could live with it.

Yeah, but it works. William Hutt's commitment to lines like "Lear IS the storm!" transcend any potential contrivance.

And yet they found some hilarious moments, too. Right after intermission and his freakout over nothing, Lady MacB just stares at him and says "Thou has displaced the mirth," absolutely dripping with contempt… her voice dropped so low on the word 'mirth,' the whole audience burst out laughing. Then, to try and lighten…

Things I definitely did not notice the first time around. What was wrong with me?

"Villain, thou hast undone my mother."
"No, I have done your mother!"

Patrick Stewart in NYC, 2008.

Alright, let's get this started. Best production of Mac[redacted] you've seen. Go!

Possible lens through which to analyze the show: according to production notes on the blu-rays (which are exorbitantly expensive, by the way), the writers saw season 1 as a reflection on youth and beginnings, season 2 as an exploration of middle age and the mid-life crisis, and season 3 as old age, coming to grips…

The thing I could never figure out was how Moira related to the rest of the show. I mean, her witch-like moments were cool on their own terms, but beyond that? Obviously she ties in to Mac[redacted] because he follows the prophesy of witches to his doom, and Geoffrey is terrified of directing this play, so I get the…