Event Comment: 3rd piece [1st time; F 2, by
Charles Stuart, "from the
Spanish"; on 2 Sept. reduced to 1 act. Prologue by the author (see text)]. "The Piece, we underst
and, was originally founded on some topics that have of late engrossed the conversation of much of the fashionable world...The
Lord Chamberlain thought [it] too delicate a nature to appear with the allusions
and title it then bore,
She would be a Duchess. The consequence was that the offensive bits were expunged
and the piece re-christened...It would be unfair to make any observations...in the mutilated stage it was presented" (
Public Advertiser, 15 Aug.). "Some part of the plot was supposed to allude to the late occurrences in the family of
General John? Gunning, who was indulged with the privilege of erasing [from the MS] that which he disliked,
and who reduced it to its present feeble
and unconnected form" (
Gazetteer, 15 Aug.). [The reference in the original title is to the simultaneous flirtation of
Miss Elizabeth Gunning, the General's daughter, with the eldest sons of the
Dukes of Marlborough and Argyll (see
dnb, under
Susannah Gunning).
She would be a Duchess: in
Larpent MS 915.
Performances
Mainpiece Title: Next Door Neighbours
Performance Comment: As17910718 but Prologue-_; Epilogue-_[and thereafter].and thereafter].Afterpiece Title: The Padlock
Performance Comment: Don Diego-Bannister; Leander-Davies; Mungo-Cornellys; Scholars-Evatt, Farley; Leonora-A Young Lady (1st appearance on any stage [unidentified]); Ursula-Mrs Webb.Afterpiece Title: The Irishman in Spain
Performance Comment: Characters by R. Palmer, Evatt, Wewitzer, Farley, Rock, Mrs Goodall, Miss Fontenelle. [Cast from text (J. Ridgway, 1791), and European Magazine, Aug. 1791, p. 142: Don Carlos-R. Palmer [in text: Farley (see17910903)]; Don Fabio-Evatt; Don Guzman-Wewitzer; Servant-Farley; Kilmainham-Rock; Olivia-Mrs Goodall [in text: Miss Heard (see17910902)]; Viletta-Miss Fontenelle; Prologue-R. Palmer.