There's something enthralling about the prospect of Ralph Fiennes as Richard III, with the great Vanessa Redgrave as old Queen Margaret, the witch-like queen with all the curses.
This is the production which has been running at London's Almeida Theatre, and some of the critics' descriptions make you long to see the broadcast of Shakespeare's demon-king history play in the cinema.
Susannah Clapp in The Observer wrote about how Fiennes as the crookback killer "seduces like a basilisk. Sheer force of self-belief concentrated in a stare", and describes this as "a masterly performance, full of lethal touches".
Dominic Cavendish in The Telegraph was a degree less keen, but talked about how Fiennes "dehumanise(s) his gaze with a reptilian smile".
Lloyd Evans in The Spectator was enthralled with what he describes as a "superb production": "and what a face Ralph Fiennes has, all meat-cleaver and calculation: the haughty forehead, the deadened eyes, the mistrustful mouth petering out at the edges, the dominant, jeering brow".
Such eloquence is a testament to the power of the performance, and Evans adds that Vanessa Redgrave "creates a forcefield around herself, as if she weren't just an actor but an autonomous republic on stage".
Susannah Clapp says of the woman who is arguably the very greatest actress of her mighty generation, "What a voice," and adds that she delivers her curses – so often spat out – as if she were "merely describing the truth".
Richard III is one of the first of Shakespeare's masterpieces, and the title role is a magnificent opportunity for an actor who can convey villainy with a high comic touch.
And Fiennes, who can be snakelike and scary as Voldemort in Harry Potter, is also a master of comedy as his performances in everything from The Grand Budapest Hotel to In Bruges testify. Last year, he was superb as Jack Tanner in the National Theatre's production of George Bernard Shaw's Man and Superman.
As Richard, we see him licking blood from a scaffold and holding a crown aloft like a weapon and a token of menace. It's a gift of a role for a great actor because it presents a histrionic temperament, through a glass darkly, twisted the wrong way.
And Margaret's cameo as the mad queen of vengeance and bloody remembrance is probably the greatest sketch of a witch-like figure Shakespeare ever wrote. A lot of people would kill to see Vanessa Redgrave do it.
Richard III screens in selected cinemas September 10 and September 11.
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