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 ano
ther 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.). O
ther 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)