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.

BWW Previews: Edwin Booth's Legacy Englightens Angela Iannone's World Premiere Staged By Theatre RED

While most people recognize the infamous name of President Lincoln's assasin John Wilkes Booth, who might be familiar with his brother's name, Edwin Booth? Acclaimed and award-winning Milwaukee actor Angela Iannone collaborates with Theatre RED and brings Edwin Booth out from his brother's tarnished reputation. Her World Premiere play incorporates further details regarding Booth's life in The Seeds of Banquo, and opens this August as the fourth selection in her Edwin Booth Cycle of Plays.