ABSTRACT
Musicians have been known to play in the orchestra of a stage musical, having never before read or heard the music to be performed. They look at the notes carefully, because with no rehearsal this is the only information they will get as to how to play for such shows as The Producers or The Phantom of the Opera. This process is known as putting in a deputy and is the closest modern equivalent can find to how the Elizabethan actors approached a script. Just as those musicians have to rely on their notes, so did the actors have to rely on their words and the connections between them. The fact that the words alliterate or assonate with others, or have rhymes at the end of a line shows that the character being played wants to indulge some particular wordplay at this moment. Wordplay is a vital part of this communication.
