Event Comment: [T
his New Comedy (by
Mrs Elizabeth Griffith) seems not to have been performed t
his night, according to
the author's
Preface to her Edition of 1772. Shuter had been unattentive and absent from many rehearsals]: At length though late [in
the season] a day was appointed for
the representation, and on that morning
Mr Shuter appeared at rehearsal, pretty much in
the same state as before, and confessed himself incapable of performing
his part, that night. Upon which
the play was oblig'd to be fur
ther postponed, and handbills were sent about at noon, to advertise town of
the disappointment....A fur
ther final day was afterwards determined on, but
the audience being out of humour at
their former disappointment, called Mr Shuter to account for it, on
his first appearance; which threw him into such confusion, that he was not able to get
the better of it, throughtout
the whole performance...in
the hurry of
his spirits
the actor not only forgot
his part,
the deficiency of which he endeavoured to supply with
his own dialect, but also seemed to lose all idea of
the character he was to perform; and made
the Governor appear in a light which
the author never intended: that of a mean, ridiculous buffoon. [Mrs Griffith concluded her
preface by relating how her friends stood by
the piece, but two or three in
the gallery, when it was given out again objected and threw an apple at
the chandeliers, which so perturbed
the management that
the play was withdrawn. She
therefore published it by subscription, prefixing
the names of about 440 subscribers, persons of
the first quality, including
James Boswell,
Edmund Burke,
Col. Burgoyne,
the Duke of Devonshire,
David Garrick,
Mrs Montague,
William Richardson, and a host of writers, players, and people of fashion. T
his list provides a pretty good roster of those who filled
the boxes and part of
the pit of both
theatres at
the time.] Paid
Younger #2 2s. for
the license for
A Wife in the Right (Account Book). Receipts: #218 12s. (Account Book)