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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."
From W.S. Gilbert, His Life and Letters
by Sidney Dark and Rowland Grey
- Playscript, submitted to the Archive by Andrew Crowther.
Page modified
28 March, 2007
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