Synopsis from D’Oyly Carte Opera Company:
Act I
The fishing village of Rederring in Cornwall
The curtain rises to show a corps of professional bridesmaids (appointed by the village to be on duty every day from ten to four) standing in front of the cottage of Rose Maybud, ‘the fairest flower that blows.’ Rose has yet to find a husband, and her failure means that the bridesmaids are condemned to idleness.
Dame Hannah enters. The bridesmaids suggest that SHE should take a husband. She says, hwoever, that she is pledged to eternal maidenhood. Long ago she was bethrothed to Sir Roderic Murgatroyd, the bad baronet of Ruddigore, but left him on discovering his true identity. She tells the story of the curse on the house of Ruddigore, which obliges the holder of the title to commit a crime every day or perish in agony.
Rose Maybud appears and describes to hannah the difficulty of attracting suitors without violating the principles of etiquette, to which she is devoted. She loves Robin Oakapple, a young farmer. He enters, but he is as shy as she is modest, and the pair are only able to declare their love indirectly. After Rose’s departure, Robin is revealed to be Sir Ruthven Murgatroyd, the rightful heir to the baronetcy of Ruddigore. He has only managed to avoid the curse of the title by masquerading as a farmer, leaving responsibility for the daily crime to his younger brother, Despard, who believes him dead.
Richard Dauntless, a Man-o’-war’s man and Robin’s foster-brother, now arrives in Rederring. He is a burlesque of the braggart sailor of tradition and offers to press Robin’s suite with Rose — an undertaking in which he is so successful that he wins her for himself. However, when he emphasises the importance of acting according to one’s heart’s dictates, Rose takes him at his word and decides to marry Robin after all.
Mad Margaret enters. She loves Sir Despard Murgatroyd, but has been driven mad by his villainy and indifference. Shortly afterwards the baronet himself appears, followed by a chorus of ‘bucks and blades.’
Richard Dauntless, still acting on his heart’s dictates, approaches him and reveals that Sir Ruthven Murgatroyd is still alive — with the result that, when the villager assemble for the union of Rose and Robin, Despard denounces the latter as the true baronet of Ruddigore. Rose is thus compelled to return to Richard; Despard, ‘a virtuous person now,’ takes back Mad Margaret, and Robin is left saddled with the title and its attendant curse.
Act II
The picture gallery of Ruddigore Castle
On the walls are portraits of the baronets since the time of James I. Robin, now Sir Ruthven Murgatroyd, is consulting his faithful servant, Old Adam Goodheart, about his daily crime. They are interrupted by the arrival of Rose and Richard, who have come to ask Robin’s consent to their marriage. The latter toys with the idea of immuring them both in a dungeon, but after Rose pleads with him in a song, he agrees.
Robin is left alone. The stage darkens and the Murgatroyd ancestors stop out of their frames. Sir Roderic, after singing the famous “Ghosts’ High Noon,’ asks Robin about his daily crimes and professes himself dissatisfied with their trivial nature. he demands that a lady shall be carried off that very day and overcomes Robin’s reluctance by giving him a taste of the death agonies prescribed by the curse of Ruddigore.
The ghosts return to their frames and Robin sends Old Adam to carry out their orders. Despard and Mad Margaret enter, both dressed in sober black. They have become respectable and explain that they ‘rule a National School.’ they exhort Robin to abandon his career of crime even at the cost of his life. He agrees to do so and the three sing the patter trio, ‘My eyes are fully open to my awful situation.’ A further complication arises, however, with the return of Old Adam, who has succeeded in carrying off Dame Hannah in obedience to his master’s orders. When Robin is left alone with his prisoner, she becomes so ferocious that he calls upon Sir Roderic to protect him. The latter steps down from his frame and he and Hannah recognise in each other the lovers they once were. A sentimental scene follows, in which Hannah sings the ballad ‘There grew a little flower ‘neath a great oak tree.’
Robin suddenly lights on an idea which could help to resolve the whole tangled situation. A baronet of Ruddigore, he explains, incurs death by failing to commit his daily crime; therefore, to refuse to commit his daily crime is tantamount to suicide — but suicide itself is a crime From this it follows that Sir Roderic ought never to have died at all. He accordingly resumes his existence and is united with Dame Hannah. Robin is now free to marry Rose, and Richard Dauntless has to be content with one of the professional bridesmaids.
