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Act 1, Scene 9
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in If We Were Villains, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Fate vs. Free Will
Identity and Disguise
Love and Sexuality
Theatre and Corruption
Summary
Analysis
During the students’ first off-book Julius Caesar rehearsal in the theatre, James and Alexander struggle through the Tent Scene. James forgets a line and has to ask for a prompt from Gwendolyn, and then Alexander forgets, too—three times. Richard, waiting in the wings for his entrance, emerges onstage and complains loudly about the waste of time. Everyone stops what they’re doing to look at him, and Gwendolyn tells him to take a break. Alexander is annoyed, but James tells him that Richard has a point—they should be better prepared. As they sit down for a smoke, Filippa joins them and tells them that Meredith scolded Richard for his behavior and that he apologized for his actions.
Richard, perhaps still thinking of his casting in Macbeth, is showing signs of anger and distress. This scene is the first time that he lashes out at the group, and it’s relatively mild—he at least apologizes to Meredith for behaving rudely, and the students manage to settle themselves quickly. One of the ways in which they calm themselves down is through smoking and drug use, a harmful coping mechanism that some of them begin to rely on more and more as the novel continues.
Themes
