The Real Inspector Hound

Tom Stoppard’s one act play The Real Inspector Hound, was written between 1961 and 1962. Earlier titles of the script were The Stand-ins and The Critics. It is a parody of classic theatrical mystery such as the long running Agatha Christie play The Mousetrap. The title in fact is a reference to the ending of Christie’s play. The Real Inspector Hound is structured as a play within a play. The frame of the play tells the story of Moon and Birdboot who are two theater critics in attendance at a performance at a London theater. The play within takes place at Muldoon Manor, an opulent home amid marshes and swamps near a cliff. As the narratives of the play and the frame of the play continue they intermingle with one another and by the end it becomes difficult to see them as two separate entities.

Moon is only a moderately successful theater critic but wants to improve and join the ranks of the top in his field. Birdboot already has achieved a good amount of recognition for his work. Both are dealing with concerns in their lives. Moon feels that he is in the shadow of the first-string critic named Higgs. Birdboot is concerned that his respected work as a critic has been overshadowed by his marital infidelities. The night before the performance he is attending he had an affair with an actress who is in the play. Even in his futile efforts to deny his actions, he is thinking of another actress in the play he’s watching.

The murder mystery which serves as the play within the play features a madman loose in the area surrounding the manor. In typical murder mystery plotting, a storm is brewing and Inspector Hound and his men have difficulty reaching the area. Inside the manor, a dead body is on the floor in the drawing room, though the residents are not yet aware. Simon Gascoyne arrives at the manor. In a parallel to Birdboot, he too is involved in numerous affairs. The owner of the manor, Cynthia Muldoon, is Gascoyne’s true love although he also had an affair with her best friend Felicity Cunningham who is at the manor as well. Others on hand include the maid Mrs. Drudge, and Magnus Muldoon who is the half-brother of Albert, Cynthia’s husband who has not been heard from for some time. During a card game, arguments about the romantic complications of the residents take place and they wonder about who the madman might be. Simon emerges as a likely murder suspect; however, everyone else—except the maid—make death threats against each other.



When Inspector Hound finally is able to make his way to Muldoon Manor they all discover the dead body on the floor together. The inspector believes it to be Cynthia’s husband Albert. Cynthia denies this, and Hound’s information becomes suspect. While they are all looking about the manor for clues, Simon is shot to death. A second mystery is thus added to the story as they wonder who killed Simon. This is the ending of the first act of the play within the play.

In between the acts Moon and Birdboot continue speaking in soliloquies from their places in the front of the audience. When a telephone on the stage rings, Moon jumps on the stage and picks it up. The caller is Myrtle, the wife of Birdboot who has called to accuse him of cheating on her. When Birdboot is hanging up the phone the play reverts to its opening scene, but this time with Birdboot taking the place of Simon. The lines are repeated but Birdfoot’s responses are as himself. Birdboot, like Simon before him, is shot to death. Just prior to this he finds that the dead body lying on the floor is the critic Higgs for whom Moon was filling in that evening.

Upon Birdboot’s death, Moon goes back to the stage and assumes the role of Inspector Hound. He then tries to return back to the audience and his seat, but finds that the seats he and Birdboot had been sitting in are now occupied by Simon Gascoyne and Inspector Hound. As the play progresses, determining who is who becomes a challenge. The Moon/Hound character is attempting to solve the murders of Higgs and Birdboot but also of the unidentified body and Simon. Further blurring the line between the multiple realities, Magnus reveals himself to be both Albert and the real Inspector Hound. The Hound being played by Moon is the madman who had been pretending to be Inspector Hound.



As the play approaches its conclusion, Moon discovers that the man who is portraying Magnus is actually Puckeridge, the next critic in line after Higgs and Moon. The play was a plot of Puckeridge’s to kill off both Higgs and Moon so that he could ascend to the top critic’s position. While the madman in the play within the play is brought to justice, outside of it there is still a murderer at large. The Magnus/Puckeridge character then shoots Moon, who falls to his death.