donât like all that emotive bitâthis is what the bloke was really like . It seems to remove the subject from reality rather than making him more real. Like historical novels about Famous People. Iâm just an interpreter of Hoodâs work; I donât pretend to be him. Let the poems and lyrics speak for themselves. Certainly in the case of the poems, it would falsify them to read them in character. They were written as public entertainments to be recited and thatâs how I treat them.â
âSo itâs more a sort of recital than an acting thing?â
âI suppose so. Itâs mid-way between. And it has the great advantage that I donât have to learn it all and can actually refer to the book when I want to.â
âHandy. So you just wear ordinary clothes for it?â
âA suit, maybe. Iâd look daft dressed as Thomas Hood anyway. I havenât the figure of a stunted Victorian consumptive.â
âHe was another one, was he?â
âYes. Hence the So Much Blood of the title. Actually there is some question as to whether it was consumptionâT.B. or not T.B. It may have been rheumatic heart disease. But he spat blood, thatâs the main thing. It was very difficult to be a literary figure in Victorian times without spitting blood. Healthy writers started at an enormous disadvantage.â
Anna laughed. âIf he was ill, I think youâre showing great restraint in not acting it out. Most actors leap at the chance of doing hacking coughs and their dramatic dying bit.â
âSo do I. But unfortunately it wouldnât be right for this show. Oh, Iâve died with the best of them. You should have heard my death rattle as Richard II after Sir Pierce of Exton stabbed me.â
There was a momentâs pause. They were both thinking the same, both seeing Willy Mariello lying on the stage at the Masonic Hall. Anna went pale.
âSorry. Shouldnât have said that. I wasnât thinking.â
âItâs all right. Itâs just . . . so recent.â
âYes.â Charles hesitated. He had decided to investigate Willyâs death, but dinner with Anna was not intended to be part of that investigation; her attraction for him was not primarily as a source of information. On the other hand, here was someone who knew all the people involved, and the conversation had come round to the subject. The detective instinct overcame his baser ones. âDid you know Willy well?â
âNo, I wouldnât say well. I knew him.â
âI was amazed to discover that he wasnât at the University. How on earth did he get involved with your lot?â
âOh, he . . . You know he used to play with a band?â
âYes. Puce.â
âThatâs right. They came and did a gig at our Studentâs Union. I think Willy stayed around a bit. It was just round the period the band broke up. He must have met the drama lot then.â
âAnd somebody asked him to do this show?â
âI suppose so, yes. Because he lived in Edinburgh and was kind of at a loose end. He wrote all the music, you see. I think he wanted to do something different, after the band.â
â Mary, Queen of Sots sounds pretty different. You donât know if he made any particular friends at Derby?â
âNo.â She seemed to remember something. âOh, yes. Sam. Sam Wasserman. Heâs the guy who wrote Mary . I think Willy was friendly with him. Probably it was Sam who asked him to do the music.â
âI donât think Iâve met Sam.â
âNo. Heâs not up here. On holiday in Europe somewhere. Heâs American so it has to be Europe rather than any specific country. They seem to think Europe is just one country.â
âSo Samâs not likely to be up here at all?â
âI think heâs coming up for the opening of Mary .â
âWhenâs that?â
âThird week. Opens on the