The Producer replies: Dear confused second
ghost (and villagers, bridesmaids, ancestors), I can only answer one of your paradoxes -
how come Ruthven and Richard are foster brothers?
I fear I and my script
re-writes may be the cause of this confusion. In the original
script, Ruthven has been 'dead and buried' for 20 years, not 10. I
changed it to line up with Roderic dying and Despard inheriting 10 years ago.
In a deleted song, Ruthven says he is 35. So when he was 15, he must have run away from Ruddigore castle to
Rederring village and claimed to be a orphan, whereupon he was fostered by
Richard's family. Despard is younger than Ruthven; we don't know how
much, but I think of him as 3-5 years younger. So the last time he saw his
brother, he may only have been 10 or 12.
Maybe this answers the 'Why
don't they recognise each other?' question. [Clear as mud. I am still trying to count my fingers and toes here. Six eights are forty eight, take away eleven. If it's more ... 2nd Ghost]
And I bet, having lost Ruthven, the
picture gallery kept a tight hold of poor 10 year old Despard so that he could
inherit - since they all got sick of crime, they could be sure Roderic would do
the same, and they need an heir or they'll be left as paintings with no one to
torture!
But I hadn't thought about Despard
inheriting again if he manages to persuade Ruthven to abdicate - yep, stupid.
PS. Everyone thinks Rose is not very
bright, but she is bright enough to get herself the richest husband she can,
considering that when her (presumably adopted) Aunt Hannah dies, she'll be back
at the workhouse she was found at if she doesn't marry. I see parallels with Pride and Prejudice's Mrs Bennett trying to
marry off her 5 daughters!
The MD replies: Anything to get you grumbling, blockheads, sluggards, dullards, dreamers, shirkers, shufflers, crawlers, creepers, snifflers, snufflers, wailers, weepers, earthworms, maggots, tadpoles, weevils ... back row malingerers to wake up and keep time ... why, you almost managed it last night.
And another question to ponder: Did Richard Dauntless's ship actually let the 'Frenchie' off scot-free or did they simply miss?
