Welcome back to the home of the oxymoron. Evil genius. He asked the newspaper to print his obituary early so he'd enjoy it. That's like hiding at your own funeral. Yeah, it's a big, great gig. I'm Russell Kane. Join me to weigh in on whether the biggest players in history are more evil or genius. Becoming that rich, I'd say that at some level of genius. It also helps

that it's a long time ago, right? It's like the podcast version of telling your kids the ice cream

van plays music when it's out of ice cream. Listen to evil genius on BBC sounds.

This is a download from the BBC. For more information and our terms of use, go to BBC.com.uk slash radio three.

On tonight's programme, should the rich, and most of the rest of us, for that matter, give more?

The philanthropy debate later. And American poets, the erotic politics film, R.B. Kittai's subject matter in his prints is almost as wide as the world.

A new show of them opens at the British Museum and we review it.

Plus, the statistician as guru.

Nate Silver, who called the American election and whose new book has become a bestseller,

believes that statistics can get to places politics can't reach.

I have my doubts, but we discuss with him later.

But first, in a programme with quite an American whiff, we review the Premier in Britain of Race,

a recent played by David Mamet, where a rich white man accused of rape of a young

black woman meets his new lawyers. Why did you leave Greenstein? Now the nickel drops. Can I rely upon

your honesty? I don't want you relying on our honesty. Upon what should I rely? Upon our desire

for fortune and fame. Why'd you leave Greenstein? I didn't like the way he was handling the case. What didn't you like about it? What difference does it make? Somebody who hits his first wife will hit his second wife. You know, why he's a wife-beater? I didn't like the way I was being treated. Do you have it in contention to plead guilty? Absolutely not. Then free of charge, you're going to have to drop the rich bit. Why should we treat you better? Because we're the underdogs, and you would think we'd have to eat more of your pomposity and believe in your fake contrition. Who do you think that you're talking to? I think that I'm talking to a rapist and race criminal. Clark Peters, Jasper Britain, and Charles Deich in race at the Hampstead Theatre.

Now David Mamet came to fame with dramas about sharp-tonged losers in the American dream, salesmen, con-artists, tricksters, in plays such as Glen Gary, Glenn Ross and American Buffalo.

More recently, he's jumped into the central, troubling concerns of American life.

His new play, or rather, a recent play defiantly called Race, premiered in 2009 in the US, soon after the election of the first black American president.

There's a law firm, three lawyers, two black and one white, two men and one woman,

they're offered the chance to defend a white man who may, or who may not, have raped a young

black woman. Races a play about lies, where each of the person deceives vice for power,

...