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 Engaged was produced at the Haymarket Theatre on 3 October , 1877,
Miss Marion Terry playing the leading part. Engaged is a humorous
farce with a definite suggestion of the "topsy-turvydom" of the
Gilbert of the Bab Ballads and the operas, and it has a proper place
in the story of Gilbert's considerable achievements. It was produced
in the same year as The Sorcerer. The first act takes place in a
Scottish cottage, near Gretna, and it opens with the courting of
Maggie Macfarlane by Angus Macalister. Angus explains to his future
mother-in-law:
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"I'm a fairly prosperous man. What wi' farmin' a bit land and gillieing odd times, and a bit o' poachin' now and again ; and what wi' my illicit whusky still — and throwin' trains off the line, that the poor distracted passengers may come to my cot, I've mair ways than one of making an honest living — and I'll work them a' nicht and day for my bonnie Meg!"
A train is wrecked, the distracted passengers arrive, and the fun begins, the dramatist burlesquing romantic drama with a gusto that Mr. Shaw might well envy. The dialogue is excellent. For example: |
M. Mr. Belvawny, I don't know what we should have done
without you. What with your sweet songs, your amusing riddles, and
your clever conjuring tricks, the weary days of waiting have
passed like a delightful dream.
M T. It is impossible to be dull in the society of one
who can charm the soul with plaintive ballads one moment and the
next roll a rabbit and a guinea-pig into one.
The conclusion is pure Gilbertian. The heroine speaks:
"Belvawny, I love you with an intensity of devotion that I firmly
believe will last while I live. But dear Cheviot is my husband
now; he has a claim upon me which it would be impossible — nay,
criminal — to resist. Farewell, Belvawny; Minnie may yet be yours.
Cheviot — my husband — my own love — if the devotion of a lifetime can
atone for the misery of the last few days, it is yours, with every
wifely sentiment of pride, gratitude, admiration, and love."
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- Script, submitted to the Archive by Andrew Crowther.
- Comment in "English Theatre in 1881", The Times, January 28th 1882.
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14 August, 2011
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