The Recruiting Officer opened at Drury Lane in 1706. It was an immediate hit and went on to become one of the most frequently performed plays of the 18th century. The part of the foppish Brazen proved a significant role for the actor-manager Colley Cibber. The rest of the cast included Robert Wilks as Plume, Theophilus Keene as Ballance, Thomas Kent as Scale, Joseph Williams as Worthy, Richard Estcourt as Kite, William Bullock as Bullock, Henry Norris as Costar Pearmain, Jane Rogers as Melinda, Anne Oldfield as Silvia and Susanna Mountfort as Rose.[4]
The Recruiting Officer was the first play to be staged in New York City, at the Theatre on Nassau Street on 6 December 1732.[5]
It was also the first play to be staged in the Colony of New South Wales,[6] which is now Australia, by the convicts of the First Fleet in 1789 under the governance of Captain Arthur Phillip RN (also Commodore of the First Fleet).[7] It was the first performance of the original Dock Street Theatre in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1736.
The best remembered modern revival was staged at the National Theatre Company Theatre (while based at the Old Vic) in 1963 – its inaugural season. Directed by William Gaskill, its cast which included Laurence Olivier as Brazen, Robert Stephens as Plume, Colin Blakely as Kite, Derek Jacobi as Worthy, Maggie Smith as Silvia and Mary Miller as Melinda.
The National Theatre staged the play again in 1991 with Desmond Barrit as Brazen, Alex Jennings as Plume and Ken Stott as Kite. It was directed by Nicholas Hytner.
In 2012 Donmar Warehouse staged a revival starring Tobias Menzies as Captain Plume, Mark Gatiss as Brazen and Mackenzie Crook as Kite.[8]
American Players Theatre included The Recruiting Officer in its 2018 repertory season with Nate Burger as Plume, Marcus Truschinski as Brazen, Jefferson A. Russell as Kite and directed by William Brown.
TV adaptations
There have been two television adaptations of the play. The first for Australian television in 1965,[9] the second a BBC Play of the Month (1973). The latter, of which only fragments are believed to survive,[10] was directed by David Giles, and starred Ian McKellen as Plume, Prunella Ransome as his sweetheart Sylvia, Jane Asher as Melinda, John Moffatt as Brazen, and Brian Blessed as Sergeant Kite.
