A Jovial Crew - Performance

Performance

The title page of the first edition states that the play debuted at the Cockpit Theatre in Drury Lane in 1641. That theatre had recently returned to the management of Brome's friend and colleague William Beeston, after a period under the control of their rival Sir William Davenant. In his dedication to Stanley in the 1652 quarto, Brome states that A Jovial Crew "had the luck to tumble last of all in the epidemical ruin of the scene" — which has been interpreted to mean that the play was the last work acted before the Puritan authorities closed the London theatres on 2 September 1642, at the start of the English Civil War.

The play was revived early in the Restoration era, and proved an enduring favourite with its audience. Samuel Pepys recorded seeing multiple performances of the play in his Diary — twice in 1661, and again in 1662 and in 1669. The play remained in the active repertory when the King's Company and the Duke's Company joined to form the United Company in 1695. The publication of the play's fourth edition in 1708 was motivated by a revival at Theatre Royal, Drury Lane that year.

In what may be a case of mutual influence, John Gay might have drawn upon A Jovial Crew when he created his Beggar's Opera in 1728. In turn, the great success of Gay's work may have inspired the adaptation of A Jovial Crew into a similar ballad opera (comparable to a modern musical): in 1731, Matthew Concanen, Edward Roome, and Sir William Yonge produced their adaptation, The Jovial Crew. In this musical form, the work remained a staple of the English stage for the next half-century, and was performed as late as 1791.

The play was staged by the Royal Shakespeare Company in the Swan Theatre at Stratford-upon-Avon in 1992, in a modern adaptation by playwright Stephen Jeffries.

The U.S. Premiere of the play was performed by La Marque High School in 1994 to award-winning acclaim throughout the state of Texas, achieving Best Actress (Jennifer Gover Foster for Rachel) and Best Supporting Actress (Shawna Daniel Vercher for Patrica) honors for the cast in various festivals and shows.