Rounding the bend three-quarters of a mile up river from a one-horse town in Arkansas, the raft on which Huckleberry Finn floats is “a most uncommon lively place.” At that point in Huck’s narrative, the makeshift showboat carries on its crowded deck a boy (Huck), a runaway slave (Jim), a “king,” a “duke,” and all their worldly possessions. These include the theatrical prerequisites, human and material, sufficient to rehearse a multitude of roles, which the travelers are prepared to perform for one another as well as for a larger public. The fact that Huck knows the truth about the purported royals – “that these liars warn’t no kings nor dukes, at all” – detracts not at all from their urgent preparations for the forthcoming stage show:

Following the balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet, featuring Mr. Garrick as Romeo and Mr. Kean as Juliet, “assisted by the whole strength of the company,” and the “thrilling, masterly, and blood-curdling broad-sword conflict” from Richard III, the playbill promises that the evening will conclude with Mr. Kean’s rendering of “Hamlet’s Immortal Soliloquy.” Adult admission was set at a quarter, a dime for children and slaves (Twain, 141-42).