Engaged at the Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond

ENGAGED by W. S. Gilbert
At The Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond

From 27th November 2002 to 11th January 2003
Monday – Saturday 7:45
Saturday matinees 4pm (not Nov 30th)
Thursday matinees 2:30 pm

Please note, there will be no performances from Monday 23rd to Thursday 26th December

Running time 2 half hours with one interval of fifteen minutes

Box Office 020 8940 3633
www.orangetreetheatre.co.uk

The Orange Tree theatre really lends itself to a play of this kind – it is intimate and incredibly visual, with stunning costumes and a simple yet highly effective set. Engaged by WS Gilbert, known most commonly for his joined-at-the-hip partnership with A Sullivan, is a nineteenth-century social satire. There is nothing particularly innovative or unique about its content, but it is an intelligent and highly entertaining piece of theatre, and really is worth seeing.

The play is a pastiche exhibiting quite literally all that is immoral about late Victorian England: the hypocrisy of hierarchy when it comes to finding a partner – for love or money? – and the hypocrisy of action and sentiment in the face of practicality.

The satire centres around Cheviot Hill and the confusion and disorder surrounding his dance of courtly love – very funny, if a little repetitive and enervated at times. Hill is a serial monogamist, constant in his intrinsic inconstancy, unashamedly utters that he is ‘full of anecdote’ when wooing one in a long line of young ladies. And this is the play’s adage; in fin de siècle England, words - that is witty, proverbial and flowery oratory - were of the essence, but people never actual said anything of any importance.

A strong company, all play vital roles and perform with energy and precision. A special mention must go, however, to Caitlin Mottram who plays the aristocratic Belinda Treherne with remarkable conviction. Her rhetorical oration in Act II is skilled and confident through and through.

The play is incredibly visual, with stunning costumes and a simple yet highly effective set. The Orange Tree really lends itself to a play like this because of the genuine intimacy of the venue, and at the end of each Act Tim Carroll’s artistic direction exploits this concept by displaying still, melodramatic and theatrical portraits of the cast.

Engaged is totally farcical and cynical but subtly didactic. It was also highly controversial in its day. And even though it will never compare to the peerless wit and rhetoric of Oscar Wilde, WS Gilbert can definitely be considered a successful playwright in his own right – and the cast of Engaged certainly bare his talent out.

Maggie Macfarlane: Claire Redcliffe
Angus Macalister: John Paul Connolly
Mrs Macfarlane: Vivien Heilbron
Belvawney: Andrew Bone
Belinda Treherne: Caitlin Mottram
Mr Symperson: Robert Benfield
Cheviot Hill: Paul Chahidi
Major McGillicuddy: Robert Benfield
Minnie Symperson: Octavia Walters
Parker, Minnie’s maid: Sam Dowson

Director: Tim Carroll
Designer: San Dowson
Lighting: John Harris
Assistant Director: David Roderick

2002-12-06 09:45:55