Lawrence Barrett

BWW Review: Iannone Uncovers Edwin Booth's Life at Theater RED's World Premiere

Milwaukee's TheateRED begins their 2015-2016 season titled 'We All Have Blood On Our Hands,' with a World Premiere written by one of the city's acclaimed actors and directors, Angela Iannone. Iannone constructs a play, The Seed of Banquo, based on the historical facts of American theater great Edwin Booth, and yes, also the brother of the infamous John Wilkes Booth. Edwin Booth opened a theater with his namesake in 1888, and then directed, designed and starred in the plays he choose to produce. In Iannone's The Seeds of Banquo, his historical and personal stage design, prompt book and blocking were used to recreate Booth's original production, including the stage back drop, while she intermingles Booth's personal life to the point where lines in Shakespeare's Macbeth might easily be quoted by the individual Booth regarding his own relections.