Event Comment: Mainpiece [1st time; MD 3, by
George Colman, ynger]: The Scenery and Dresses are entirely new. The Musick composed by
Storace.The Scenes designed and executed by
Greenwood and
Capon [the Gothic library was painted by Capon (
Oracle, 21 Mar. 1796)]. The Dresses by
Johnston,
Gay and
Miss Rein. Books of the Songs to be had in the Theatre. [When
Colman published his play he prefaced it with an acrimonious attack on
Kemble, in which he accused him of deliberately trying to make the play a failure. But almost without exception the contemporary reviews excused Kemble's performance on the grounds of his obvious indisposition, and agreed that the play itself was unsatisfactory. "The play failed, and we are sorry to say did not merit to succeed...Kemble, who was tormented With an incessant cough, said he could not but be sensible that much of the displeasure of the house proceeded from his deficiency in a principal character...The whole audience with one voice cried out, 'No, no, Kemble-it is not your fault'" (Oracle, 14 Mar.). "The dialogue is extremely heavy, and there is little or no incident to relieve the tedium of more than four hours representation...
Sir Edward Mortimer is a being distracted, with no adequate cause; a prey to remorse, which he of all men was the last to feel from the principles that make up his being. This therefore is the radical moral defect of the piece. But there is another which, though not equally strong, is equally fatal: there is no progression of interest, there is no involution of plot, there is no development of character" (
Star, 14 Mar.). Other notices of the opening night were much in the same vein. Subsequently
Colman revised the play, and it held the stage for many years. "The curtailments which have been made shorten the representation near an hour and a half, and the alterations are many and judicious" (Morning Herald, 21 Mar. 1796). Morning Herald, 23 July 1796: This Day is published
The Iron Chest (2s.). Receipts: #471 9s. (468.13; 2.16)