Contains spoilers for this episode.
George confuses theatrical murder with a real crime during an evening at the playhouse. When an actual attacker throws a bomb at him, he makes the opposite mistake and treats it as part of the entertainment. Blackadder proposes a speech for the royal birthday celebrations to improve the Prince's standing among his angry subjects. George hires the actors Mossop and Keanrick to teach him how to deliver it, bringing their elaborate manner and superstitions into the palace.
The actors scorn Blackadder's writing and treat the butler as an intellectual inferior. Edmund repeatedly says Macbeth to trigger their lengthy ritual against bad luck, but George joins the insults and drives his servant towards resignation. While Blackadder considers another job, the actors rehearse a play about murdering a prince. Baldrick overhears their lines and mistakes them for a real conspiracy. George becomes terrified and suddenly needs the servant whose intelligence he has just dismissed.
Edmund returns within minutes and negotiates a substantial pay rise before investigating. He recognises that the supposed plot is a rehearsal, then deliberately confirms George's suspicions. The written play becomes evidence against the actors, who are arrested despite their explanation. Blackadder celebrates their removal with another mention of Macbeth and a proposed play of his own. George eagerly accepts the starring part, unaware that Edmund has devised a role involving the stocks and a supply of rotten tomatoes.