Lady Madcap

About the show

Setting: Framlingham Castle Lady Betty, the daughter of an Earl, Lord Framlingham, is an innocent-looking but mischievous girl. Without her father's knowledge, she has invited the officers of the East Anglian Hussars to their home, Egbert Castle, for a day and night of entertainment. She forges two telegrams that send her father into town on some urgent political pretext and later his butler to follow him. Her father wisely locks her in her room during his absence, but her friend, Gwenny, and lady's maid, Susan, secures a ladder to help her to escape from the window. Although she detests wealth, Lady Betty is interested in a rich, eccentric young trooper, who calls himself Smith, and whose prowess at cricket have caught her eye. She disguises herself as a servant, and has Gwenny impersonate her, so that she can get close to Smith. Meanwhile, two men from the village, attracted by the Earl's advertisement for a rich man to court his daughter, arrive at the castle and mistake each of Gwenny and Susan for Lady Betty; they are both impostors pretending to be wealthy. Betty flirts with Smith and persuades him to pretend to be the butler, which he does, donning the butler's uniform. Class distinctions disappear that evening at the servants' ball as the officers enjoy the entertainment and company of servants and gentry alike. Betty continues her flirtations with Smith and is well-pleased with the progress of her elaborate mischief. Lord Framlingham returns angrily but is soothed that his daughter's suitor is, at least, rich. The impostors are discovered, and all ends happily.