These Handwritten Notes Came From John Wilkes Booth Heres How Theyre Helping a Modern Theater Compan
I'm trying to decipher this sentence. I'm trying to translate these notes, some written by a prompter basically our modern day stage manager and some by the star of the show our modern day actor/director, into usable instructions. I'm trying to resuscitate playing practices that have been dead for over 100 years, using an 1861 promptbook of Shakespeare's Richard III. Really, it's Restoration playwright Colley Cibbers "fix" of Shakespeare's Richard III in 1699, but that's another story. The promptbook is the play script with detailed notes handwritten inside to instruct actors and theater staff before the star arrives to play his part. For The Hidden Room, a company that specializes in scholar/practitioner collaborations, often recreating historically significant theater, these handwritten notes are DNA hidden in the book's rich amber. But the actor/director who wrote most of them, that man who is assisting me from the beyond is John Wilkes Booth. I hate John Wilkes Booth. In 1865, John Wilkes Booth will assassinate Abraham Lincoln. Yet here in 1861/2018 he kindly assists me, blissfully unaware that he will become one of the most detested villains in American history. "Shouts. Clashing of swords all through  distant at times." That's good. That's a good note. The sound effects of swords clanging, sometimes more quietly as though far away helps build an encompassing battle for the audience to imagine. Check out the Ransom Center magazine website for a video discussion about the promptbook.