Wilde's first West End drawing room play, Lady Windermere's Fan, ran at the St James's Theatre for 197 performances in 1892.[2] He briefly moved away from the genre to write his biblical tragedy Salome, after which he accepted a request from the actor-manager Herbert Beerbohm Tree for a new play for Tree's company at the Haymarket Theatre.[3] Wilde worked on it while staying in Norfolk in the summer, and later in a rented flat in St James's, impeded by constant interruptions by Lord Alfred Douglas.[4]
Tree accepted the finished play in October 1892.[5] The leading female role, Mrs Arbuthnot, was intended for Madge Kendal, but for contractual reasons she withdrew and was replaced by Mrs Bernard Beere.[6] The play was first performed on 19 April 1893 at the Haymarket Theatre, London, to an audience that included Arthur Balfour and Joseph Chamberlain;[7] the Prince of Wales attended the second night.[8] The production ran for 113 performances, closing on 16 August.[9]
Original cast
Programme for the first run, 1893- Lord Illingworth – Herbert Beerbohm Tree
- Sir John Pontefract – E. Holman Clark
- Lord Alfred Rufford – Ernest Lawford
- Mr Kelvil, MP – Charles Allan
- The Ven Dr Daubeny, DD (Rector of Wrockley) – Henry Kemble
- Gerald Arbuthnot – Fred Terry
- Farquhar (butler) – — Hay
- Francis (footman) J. Montagu
- Lady Hunstanton – Rose Leclercq
- Lady Caroline Pontefract – R. G. Le Thière
- Lady Strutfield – Blanche Horlock
- Mrs Allonby – Mrs H. B. Tree
- Hester Worsley – Julia Neilson
- Alice (maid) – — Kelly
- Mrs Arbuthnot – Mrs Bernard Beere
- Source: The London Stage.[9]
