The Play's The Thing.

Apparently I was being rather jingoistic in my belief that only the British can come up with Monty Python-style solutions to real-life problems.

In reaction to the horrible murders at Virginia Tech, Yale has apparently banned fake weapons in fiction.

It has a nice symmetry, but I don’t think it will solve any problems. "Calling for an end to violence onstage does not solve the world’s suffering. It merely sweeps it under the rug," said the play's director Holdren. Right.

It did, however, bring to mind Hwel the playwright's efforts in Terry Pratchett's Wyrd Sisters.

KING: Is this a duck knife dagger I see behind beside before me, its beak handle pointing at me my hand?
1ST MURDERER I'faith it is not so. Oh, no it isn't!
2ND MURDERER Thou speakest truth, sire. Oh, yes it is!