Maudi Darrell (1882-1910)

"THE CASSILIS ENGAGEMENT"
A Comedy by St. John Hankin.
Produced at the Court Theatre - 11th February, 1907

ANOTHER HARMLESS LITTLE HANKIN COMEDY

Thanks to the Court Theatre and the Stage Society, Mr. St. John Hankin is establishing a reputation as a writer of pleasant, bloodless little comedies, which, though not strong enough for production in the ordinary way, may be warmly recommended for their extreme gentility.

If clergymen and fathers of families, for example, were in the habit of ordering plays from Whiteley's, Mr. Hankin would be the very man for their money. The latest Hankin is "The Cassilis Engagement," produced by the Stage Society at the Imperial Theatre yesterday afternoon. The story might have been taken from "Reading Without Tears." Geofrey Cassilis, a pretty, fair-haired lad, who kisses his mother once a minute and always leaves the room with a healthy bound, gets engaged to a London girl named Ethel Borridge. This is dreadful, because Ethel's mother is vulgar, poor dear, and Geofrey's people are, oh! so genteel.

Well, children, Ethel and her mother come to stay at Deynham Abbey, and there the naughty Ethel horrifies everybody by singing a wicked, wicked song - you may hear it for yourself in any pantomime - called "There was I, waiting at the church." Fancy! So the party is quite spoiled, and Ethel, realising that she has been indiscreet, breaks off the engagement. Most of the characters are women. When they come in they say, quite nicely, "How do you do?" Then they kiss each other upon the cheek. When they go out they say "Good-bye." And again they kiss each other upon the cheek. All Hankin people behave in this way, you know. But the naughty Ethel doesn't kiss anybody, and so she deserves to be "sent to Coventry" by the nice-minded Hankinites.

Luckily for some of us, Miss Maudi Darrell, of musical comedy fame, was the naughty Ethel, and extremely well she acted. A little too cattish, perhaps, but finished and clever. Her pantomime song was the brightest touch of a very dull afternoon, though we should not like Mr. Hankin to hear us saying that. There were two other notable performances. One was Ethel's mother, in which Miss Clare Greet made a deserved success. We loved her vulgarity; it was so human. And the other was Major Warrington, admirably played by Mr. Sam Sothern. He drank whisky-and-soda and smoked cigars! Bad man! Miss Florence Haydon was charming in a tiny part, and Mr. Langhorne Burton certainly looked beautiful as fair-haired Geofrey. For some reason or another the scene was different in each act, which necessitated three very long and very wearisome intervals.

The Daily Mail (London) - 12th February, 1907