Beverley Cross wrote the libretto, based on his play Scarlet Ribbons, at the suggestion of Colin Graham, who eventually directed the first production in 1965.
[4] It received numerous subsequent performances, including in Cologne, Marseille, Milan, Toronto, Los Angeles, and New York City (at the Juilliard School).
Boconnion, a military deserter wanted on charges of killing a man, and the tramp Tovey arrive.
The actress Jenny (the wife in the play) faints, and Tooley takes her upstairs, where he discovers the murdered landowner.
Boconnion imprisons the actors in the cellar and plans to set fire to the manor to get rid of them the next morning.