The Wedding Day

There are two 18th century plays by this title.

= The Wedding Day by Henry Fielding =

A comedy in five acts.

The original text
Though already written (at least in draft form) when Fielding returned to London from the University of Leyden towards the end of 1729, it was not initially accepted for the stage, and was only produced  by David Garrick at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in 1743- though not apparently to great success.

Performance history in South Africa
1823: F.C.L. Bosman (1928: p.197) does mention a performance of an afterpiece called The Wedding Day in the African Theatre, Cape Town by the English Theatricals on 14 June 1823, suggesting it may have been by either Fielding or Inchbald. However, this is unlikely to have been this five-act play. Most probably it was the shorter, two act, comedy by Mrs Inchbald (see below).

The original text
First performed on 1 Nov 1794 at Drury Lane and published in 1794, printed for G. G. and J. Robinson [etc.] in London.

Performance history in South Africa
1823: Produced in the African Theatre, Cape Town by the English Theatricals on 14 June 1823, as a benefit performance for a widow with 5 children, alongside The Midnight Hour (Dumaniant/Inchbald).

1823: Possibly produced again in the African Theatre, Cape Town by the English Theatricals on 21 June, when a repeat of The Midnight Hour (Dumaniant/Inchbald) was offered for those who had missed the earlier production due to the bad weather, and now with the addition of The King and the Miller of Mansfield (Dodsley).