Original production The play was originally given at
Bury St. Edmunds on 29 February 1892, commissioned by the local
hunt, which sponsored a new play every year for its annual social festivities, known as the "Hunt Bespeak". Penley produced the piece and played Lord Fancourt Babberly, Both the local paper and the leading national theatrical paper,
The Era, record Charley's surname as Wyckenham. It was soon simplified to Wykeham. A provincial tour followed, including
Colchester,
Cambridge and
Cheltenham, with the original cast. Penley recast some of the roles, presenting the play at
Derby in May. The original and Derby casts were as follows: • Stephen Spettigue, uncle of Amy, guardian of Kitty, and the story's villain – Henry Crisp • Colonel Sir Francis Chesney, father of Jack Chesney – Arthur Styan (Gerald Godfrey in Derby) • Jack Chesney, Oxford undergraduate, in love with Kitty – Wilton Heriot (H. J. Carvill in Derby) • Charley Wykeham, Oxford undergraduate, in love with Amy – Ernest Lawford (Brandon Hurst in Derby) • Lord Fancourt Babberley, undergraduate pulled unwillingly into Jack and Charley's scheme –
W. S. Penley • Brassett, Jack's valet – Harry Nelson (Percy Brough in Derby) – Charles King • Donna Lucia d'Alvadorez, Charley's aunt from Brazil – Ada Branson • Amy Spettigue, Stephen Spettigue's young niece – Lena Burleigh (Rose Nesbitt in Derby) • Kitty Verdun, Stephen Spettigue's young ward – Dora de Winton • Ela Delahay, orphaned young woman accompanying Donna Lucia (loved by Lord Fancourt) – Emily Cudmore After a further provincial tour, Penley secured the
Royalty Theatre in London, which had suddenly fallen vacant, and opened the play there on 21 December 1892. He again recast the piece, except for a few roles, as follows: • Stephen Spettigue – Ernest Hendrix • Colonel Chesney –
Brandon Thomas • Jack Chesney – Percy Lyndal • Charley Wykeham – H. Farmer • Lord Fancourt Babberley – W. S. Penley • Brasset – Cecil Thornbury • Footman – G. Graves • Donna Lucia – Ada Branson • Amy Spettigue – Kate Gordon • Kitty Verdun –
Nina Boucicault • Ela Delahay – Emily Cudmore The play was an immediate success, opening to enthusiastic audiences and excellent notices from the press. It soon transferred to the larger
Globe Theatre on 30 January 1893. It ran for a record-breaking 1,469 performances across four years, closing on 19 December 1896.
Revivals During the original London run, seven companies toured the United Kingdom with the play. The piece was successfully staged throughout the English-speaking world and, in translation, in many other countries. It had a major success on
Broadway, opening on 2 October 1893 at the
Standard Theatre, starring
Etienne Girardot, where it ran for another historic long run of four years. It was revived on Broadway several times until 1970. ''Charley's Aunt
was given in a German translation as Charleys Tante
at Weimar in August 1894. The first French production (La Marraine de Charley
) was the following month at the Théâtre de Cluny in Paris, where it ran for nearly 300 performances. The play was produced in Berlin every Christmas for many years. In 1895, The Theatre
recorded that Charley's Aunt'' had been taken up in country after country. "From Germany it made its way to Russia, Holland, Denmark and Norway, and was heartily welcomed everywhere." Thomas and Penley quarrelled and went to law over the licensing of an 1898 American production. Penley contended that the original idea for the play had been his, and that Thomas had merely turned it into a playscript. Penley had, on this pretext, secretly negotiated a deal with the American producer,
Charles Frohman, which gave Thomas only one third of the royalties. Penley told a journalist, in 1894: "The play was my idea and Brandon Thomas wrote it. Later on, we went down into the country and worked at it. Then we worked it out on the stage." Despite this rift, Penley continued to play Fancourt Babberley in frequent
West End productions until he retired from acting in 1901. (2007) Thomas revived the play at the
Comedy Theatre in London in 1904, once again playing Sir Francis Chesney. He revived it again in 1905, 1908 and in 1911, when his daughter,
Amy Brandon Thomas, played Kitty. In her later years, Amy played the role of Donna Lucia in revivals. Thomas's son, Jevan Brandon-Thomas, played Jack in three London revivals of the play and directed the annual London revivals from 1947 to 1950. Amy Brandon-Thomas insisted on setting the play in the present at each revival, despite protests from critics that it would be better played in the period in which it was written. Eventually, for a West End revival in 1949, Victorian dresses and settings were introduced, designed by
Cecil Beaton. Nearly continuous revivals have played "somewhere in London" and elsewhere in Britain since the original production. Foreign language productions have included a 2007 Czech production. Actors who have played Lord Fancourt Babberley in the West End include
Richard Goolden,
John Mills,
Frankie Howerd,
Tom Courtenay,
Griff Rhys Jones and
John Wood. Performers who played the juvenile roles early in their careers include
Noël Coward,
John Gielgud,
Rex Harrison,
Betty Marsden,
Roddy McDowall and
Raúl Juliá. ==Adaptations==