The Ruffian on the Stair

This is the underside of society-- a casual laborer and his doxy. One day a strange man appears asking for a room. He begins taunting the woman and comes close to viciousness. The next day he returns, but this time the casual laborer is there too. We can now piece things together: the laborer has killed by hit and run the homosexual lover and brother of the other man. So he pretends to ravish the doxy, and forces the laborer to shoot him. It is a crime of passion. Produced at the Royal Court.