شیطان‌های شاد: معمای دراماتیک الیزابتی (کتاب ۲ نیکلاس بریس‌ول)

The premiere of the play The Merry Devils , gives the players, as well as the audience, quite a shock. Instead of the allotted two devils appearing during a crucial scene, three enter, one looking disturbingly real. Then, in defiance, manager Lawrence Firethorne agrees to stage the play again. This time, when the devils are summoned, only one appears. The second lies dead in his costume beneath the stage. Nicholas Bracewell, mainstay of the troupe, is left to investigate the mysterious circumstances of his colleague's death. Is it murder, or some strange, unnatural act? Only the bizarre, spectacular climax at the country seat of their patron, Lord Westfield, will tell.

He had the power to assume a pleasing shape, but would he take to the stage . . . ?


The audience was merry indeed when a third devilish imp bounded onstage to join the two that had been written into the script. But backstage all was uproar. The third demon seemed too much like the real thing. Even Nicholas Bracewell, the company mainstay, was shaken when, next time the play was given, only one devil appeared. The second, poor fellow, was now only a little red heap backstage. Murdered.


Before the curtain rose again, Lord Westfield's Men would suffer the sermons of a puritan fanatic, the enchantment of passion, the terror of a London madhouse, prophecies of a famous alchemist, and danger as they'd never known it before . . .

He had the power to assume a pleasing shape, but would he take to the stage . . . ? The audience was merry indeed when a third devilish imp bounded onstage to join the two that had been written into the script. But backstage all was uproar. The third demon seemed too much like the real thing. Even Nicholas Bracewell, the company mainstay, was shaken when, next time the play was given, only one devil appeared. The second, poor fellow, was now only a little red heap backstage. Murdered. Before the curtain rose again, Lord Westfield's Men would suffer the sermons of a puritan fanatic, the enchantment of passion, the terror of a London madhouse, prophecies of a famous alchemist, and danger as they'd never known it before . . . "Bookholder Nicholas Bracewell, fresh from his triumph holding together his volatile players company during a treasonous plot against Queen Elizabeth, is set to make the galleries of The Queens Head ring with laughter with a new comedy, The Merry Devils. The lugubrious landlord is sure mischief will result. Nicholas sees only a harmless comedy that will not summon up real devils, but two actors adept at tumbling. How then, during the crucial scene, do three devils appear on stage, one looking disturbingly real? And what of the devilry that follows? One imp, in fact, soon lies dead beneath the stage."--Publisher description The audience was merry indeed when a third devilish imp joined the two that were written into the script. But backstage all was uproar. The third demon seemed far too real. Even Nicholas Bracewell, the company mainstay, was shaken. Before the curtain rose again, Lord Westfield's Men would know danger as they'd never known it before ...