The Angels at Mons

Examiner of Plays' Summary:

An impressive play of the war. The scene is laid in a Belgian chateau twenty miles from Mons. Two women are left in it, Yvonne, a Belgian girl, and Madeleine, an Englishwoman. Renée, a Belgian captain, appears. He is engaged to Yvonne for family reasons but has been Madeleine’s lover and still loves her. This is brought out in the dialogue and also the facts that the English are advancing and he, Renée, is to join them as interpreter. Both women give him a charm. Five days later the English are retreating. A dying English soldier is brought to the chateau. He talks - and this is very well done. It is really like a cockney soldier talking - of the fight and gives his account of the well-known story of the angels at Mons. Then he tells then that a Belgian officer attached to his regiment gave him, dying, and a charm to save it from falling into the hands of the Huns. It turns out, of course, to be Madeleine’s, but she soothes Yvonne by saying that no doubt he gave the wrong one in his extremity. To my mind a well written and plausible play of the war, like this, is infinitely more painful than the silly trash on the subject we usually get, and it offends me, just because it is life-like, that a dying soldier should be in a show. This is only a matter of taste, however, and it is of course impossible to interfere just because the play is good. Recommended for license. G. S. Street

Researcher's Summary:

In late August 1915 the play was marked for early production under the direction of Ernest Mayer, however it had already raised some controversy. On 26 August 1915 the Stage noted that as 'the controversy which the story has aroused does not show any signs of abating, the playlet has the advantage of being launched on a wave of discussion that is involving diverse and in some cases, heated opinion, psychological and otherwise'. Despite this, no evidence of a performance of the play has been identified.