←Recommendations of KING NOW

And just like that, the princes in the Tower unpack Richard III for us and it hits us hard, all in the space of two pages. This is a mighty little play, and many's the Shakespeare fan that would be well rewarded by taking two minutes to read or watch it.

A quick, brutal strike at the heart – with a precise hit. A palpably precise hit. Another stunner from Monica Cross, one of the most inventively acute playwrights around.

So much, so quickly. The report that "Uncle Dick" has been talking to himself a lot is guaranteed to make Richard III aficionados cringe and laugh at the same time. Well done. If one wanted to teach lit students about dramatic irony, this is a perfect vehicle.

This two minute play is fabulous. Prince Richard and Prince Edward are locked in the Tower, but everything will be okay - Edward is king now, so if he says it will be okay, it must be. A sweet conversation between two brothers made darker when you know the history of what 's going to happen to them. Two minutes well spent!

MONICA CROSS’s depiction of a bit of history - although not necessarily factual in the actual dialogue - is so ironic. A young king explains why his younger brother will never be king. We know what happened in reality. “King Now” is well-done.

A poignant view of the Princes in the Tower, all the more impressive for being accomplished in only two pages. The tenderness between the brothers gains horrible resonance from our knowledge of their fate.

A gorgeous child’s-eye-view of palace intrigue, the circumstances made all the more horrific by the characters’ innocence. Cross lovingly portrays the relationship between two very young brothers in circumstances they can’t fully understand. It’s a great scene for child actors and a heartbreaking tale for adults.

Knowing Shakespeare's version of what happens to the little princes and the mysteries surrounding them in history gives you some insider knowledge to this short piece, but even without that, you'd get what you need to here. Two princes squabble about succession and certainty, but the dramatic irony is that neither of them gets out of the Tower alive. It just goes to show that it doesn't matter what you want-- or what's right --if you're being controlled by something or someone more sinister than you dare imagine.

Oh! A heartbreaking glimpse in on the doomed princes in the Tower, easily the saddest victims in the canon. Cross loads these poor tykes up with all the weight of our knowledge of what's to come and then drops it on us like a sledgehammer. Even for a Richard III apologist like myself, this one got me.

Very unusual play, historical yet good for children. Irony permeates as the way that royals argue about kingship is often just this childish. And sad, as these two will suffer the fate of many royals on the wrong side of history.