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:
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:
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- Script, submitted to the Archive by Andrew Crowther.
- Programme from the original production.
- Full page engraving of scenes from the play from Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News, 3 November 1877. [PDF]
- Reviews
- From The Times, 8 October 1877.
- From The Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News, 20 October 1877.
- Revival from The Times, 18 February 1886.
- Comment in "English Theatre in 1881", The Times, January 28th 1882.
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