When the company paused for refreshment, Lawrence Firethorn sought the opinion of the two people he trusted most, Edmund Hoode and his book holder.
‘Well?’ he asked. ‘How do you judge him?’
‘Giddy has done well,’ said Hoode. ‘He has a better memory than any of us. Whether it will stand up to the hazards of performance is another matter. I’d have preferred a week at least in which to rehearse him.’
‘We do not have a week, Edmund.’
‘Nor do we need it,’ said Nicholas. ‘Give me time to work with him privily and I’ll have him ready for the good citizens of Maidstone.’
‘What of Cupid’s Folly, Nick?’ asked Firethorn.
‘We’ll look at that as well.’
‘The clown holds the whip hand over all of us in that play,’ noted Hoode. ‘Would it not be sensible to choose a drama that puts less weight on him? There is so much for Giddy to learn.’
‘That will not disturb him.’
‘No,’ added Firethorn. ‘When I told him about his other role, he could not wait to play Rigormortis.’
‘There are other reasons to choose the play,’ said Nicholas. ‘This yard will be an ideal place in which to stage it and the piece is a favourite of the mayor’s. He would not dare to miss it. Where he leads, many others will follow.’
Hoode was worried. ‘I still feel that we ask too much too soon of Giddy.’
‘Someone must take the role of Rigormortis.’
‘Not if we select another play.’
‘We have the costumes and scenery for Cupid’s Folly.’
‘And for Vincentio’s Revenge.’
‘This is no town for tragedy, Edmund,’ said Firethorn. ‘Let’s brighten their day with happy laughter. There’ll be rustics in the audience, brought in from miles around. The soaring verse of Vincentio’s Revenge will be wasted on them. We’ll play it later in the tour to more discerning spectators.’
‘I agree,’ said Nicholas. ‘Cupid’s Folly, it shall be.’
Hoode pursed his lips in doubt. ‘I hope that it does not prove our folly.’
‘You saw this morning how quickly Giddy can learn.’
‘Yes, but I’d feel safer if Barnaby were able to help. He has delighted an audience as Rigormortis well above thirty times. He should be the one to instruct Giddy in the way that the part should be played.’
‘You ask the impossible,’ said Firethorn. ‘The only thing that Barnaby would consent to teach Giddy is how to take his own life.’
‘Besides,’ argued Nicholas, ‘it would be wrong for one clown to school another. We do not want a pale replica of Barnaby. Giddy must give his own performance.’
‘Can he possibly do it in a mere two days?’ wondered Hoode.
Mussett supplied his own reply. Stepping out onto the gallery that ran around three sides of the yard, he struck a pose and declaimed the opening lines from the prologue to Cupid’s Folly.
‘Come friends and let us leave the city’s noise
To seek the quieter paths of country joys.
For verdant pastures more delight the eye
With cows and sheep and fallow deer hereby,
With horse and hound, pursuing to their lair,
The cunning fox or nimble-footed hare,
With merry maids and lusty lads most jolly
Who find their foolish fun in Cupid’s Folly.’
‘Dear God!’ said Firethorn with delight. ‘He has mastered the prologue even though he does not have to speak it in the play. Giddy is a true marvel.’
Nicholas smiled. ‘That’s why I suggested his name.’
‘I cast off all my worries,’ said Hoode. ‘He may yet outdo even Barnaby.’
Gill heard him and felt salt being rubbed enthusiastically into his wounds.
Two days later, they were finishing their rehearsal in the Lower Courthouse in readiness for their performance that evening. Their stage had been set up at the far end of the room in a position that had been occupied by the assize judges. Scenery was artfully used to create a rural setting and both doors were concealed behind skilfully painted trees that stood on bases of solid wood. One door led to the tiring-house where the costumes and properties were arranged in order, the other to an antechamber that was used for storage but which was connected by a door to the larger room that had become their tiring-house. When they were not acting in the play, the musicians sat on a platform that was raised above the level of the stage. Having rehearsed the piece outdoors, they had to make a number of adjustments. Voices that had rung around the yard at the Star Inn had to be modified in a more confined space. Movements had to be changed as they went along. Effects that had always been successful at the Queen’s Head proved much more difficult indoors and had to be adapted accordingly. It made for a long and testing rehearsal during which many mistakes were made. Owen Elias began to have serious doubts. When they finished their work, he drifted across to Nicholas Bracewell.
‘Was it really as bad as it felt, Nick?’ he asked.
‘I have seen it better performed,’ said Nicholas.
‘How can we lose so much of our spark?’
‘The surroundings are unfamiliar. You need to find your feet.’
‘Feet, hands, head and body,’ said Elias. ‘We lost them all.’
‘You are too harsh, Owen. A rehearsal is a time to explore and that always leads to errors. When you have an audience in here, it will be very different.’ He glanced down the room at Barnaby Gill, who sat motionless on a chair with his arms folded. ‘All that you had was a lone spectator.’
‘That’s what unsettled us. Barnaby made us feel that we were on trial.’
‘His eyes were not on you. Only one performance concerned him.’
‘I know,’ said Elias. ‘He came to gloat over Giddy’s errors but they were too rare to notice. Barnaby will have been disappointed. Instead of letting us down, Giddy was the best of us.’ He looked across at Mussett. ‘How long can he keep it up, Nick?’
‘Until we have our own clown back again.’
‘I did not mean his work on stage. It is this peculiar change that’s come over him. We’ve been in Maidstone for three days and I’ve not seen him once drink ale, chase women or lose his temper.’
‘Those were the conditions under which we employed him.’
‘I could not keep to such a contract,’ admitted Elias. ‘Lechery is natural to any red-blooded man. Strong drink merely helps it take its course. We have a duty to take our pleasures where we find them.’
‘You follow inclination more than your duty,’ said Nicholas with a grin. ‘Giddy is the dutiful one. His pleasure consists in proving to Barnaby that he is the better clown. He needs a clear head to do that.’
‘Can he keep that clear head?’
‘If he does not, then we are all lost.’
It was a sobering thought. A Trick To Catch A Chaste Lady was a play that relied heavily on its clown. Lawrence Firethorn took the leading role but Mussett’s support was crucial. On the following day, he would be taking on an even more demanding role. It would increase the burden on him. If Mussett faltered in either piece, the whole play would crumble around him. Nicholas was alive to that danger.
‘Do you know why he left Conway’s Men?’ asked Elias.
‘He told me that the quality of their work was too inferior.’
‘That’s not the story I had, Nick. According to Giddy, he stole a woman right from under Tobias Fitzgeoffrey and let her warm his bed instead.’
‘Master Fitzgeoffrey has his own skill at stealing,’ said Nicholas. ‘Conway’s Men have not only filched plays that do not belong to them, they bought cloth from a weaver here in town and rode off without paying him.’