Speed the Plough

A comedy, in five acts by Thomas Morton (1764-1838).

Not to be confused with Speed-the-Plow, a 1988 play by David Mamet

The original text

First performed at the Theatre-Royal, Covent-Garden on 8 Feb. 1798, it was acted forty-one times, and often revived.

The play introduced the fictional (off-stage) English character of "Mrs Grundy", who typifies the censorship enacted in everyday life by conventional opinion. The term soon passed into everyday English speech as a criterion of rigid respectability, especially in contexts in which free expression is impeded by excessive purity.

Performance history in South Africa

6 July 1812: Performed in Cape Town by the Garrison Players in the African Theatre, with The Irishman in London (Macready).

23 September 1815: Performed in Cape Town by the English Theatricals company (former Garrison Players) in the African Theatre, with The Prize, or 2,5,3,8, (Hoare).

7 February 1818: Performed in Cape Town by the English Theatricals company (former Garrison Players) in the African Theatre , with The Spoiled Child (Bickerstaffe).

2 November 1822: Performed in Cape Town by the Amateur Company company (Garrison Players) in the African Theatre, with The Soldier's Daughter (Cherry) and the farce Fortune's Frolic (Allingham).

2 September 1826: Performed in Cape Town by the (Garrison Players) in the African Theatre, with Sharp and Flat (Lawler), as a benefit for Mrs Johnson.

May 1827: Performed in Cape Town by the (Garrison Amateur Company) in the African Theatre, with the musical farce Love Laughs at Locksmiths (Colman Jr).