A Mad Couple Well-Match'd - Date and Performance

Date and Performance

Hard evidence on the play's date of authorship and first stage production is lacking. The 1639 list of plays belonging to the Beeston's Boys company includes an otherwise-unknown play titled A Mad Couple Well Met, which some scholars have taken as a mistake for Brome's play. (Matthew Steggle observes that "the two phrases are variants of the same proverb.") Brome is known to have written for William Beeston's company at the Cockpit Theatre during the final phase of his career; they staged his last play A Jovial Crew in 1641. Most critics accept the later 1630s as the likeliest time for the authorship of A Mad Couple Well-Match'd.