Word: murgatroyd
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Ruddigore's plot is long-winded and strange. The main character, Sir Ruthven Murgatroyd, the baronet of Ruddigore, is hiding in a small English village in order to escape a family curse. A misguided witch doomed each successive baronet to commit one crime a day or be killed. Ruthven left his brother, Despard, back at Ruddigore to assume the title of baronet and fall victim to the curse. Meanwhile, having adopted the clever pseudonym "Robin," Ruthven falls in love with the village sweet-heart, the prissy flake Rose Maybud. For the rest of the first act, Ruthven competes with...
...just gets inane and silly. The conversion of Despard and Margaret from the morally loose characters of the first act to puritanical ministers of charity in the second is arbitrary and unconvincing. The conclusion of the drama, with the resurrection of Ruthven's suicidal forbear Sir Roderic Murgatroyd, seems a morbid solution to the flighty plot...
Angered by Richard's betrayal. Robin finally speaks up and convinces Rose to marry him rather than a treacherous sea-dog like Richard. On the day of their wedding, however, the evil Sir Despard Murgatroyd (Brian Martin) appears and reveals that Robin is really Sir Ruthven Murgatroyd, Despard's older brother and heir to the baronetcy of Ruddigore. The heir, says Despard, inherits the family fortune--as well as the family curse...