The Honey Moon, or How to Rule a Wife

The Honey Moon, or How to Rule a Wife is a romantic play in five acts, mainly verse, by John Tobin (1770–1804)[1].

Also found as The Honeymoon, or How to Rule a Wife and very often referred to by its shortened title, The Honey Moon, and occasionally also The Honeymoon.

The original text

First produced in London at the Drury Lane Theatre on 31 January 1805, in New York in 1807. Printed London, 1805 and frequently reprinted. Was a decided success and remained a favourite on the English stage for twenty years.

Translations and adaptations

Translated into French by Charles Nodier as La Lune de Miel in Chefs d'œuvre des Théâtres Étrangers 1822.

Performance history in South Africa

A popular standby for players in Cape Town between 1811 and 1830.

1811: Performed in the African Theatre by the Garrison Players on 31 August, with High Life Below Stairs (Townley).

1811: Performed in the African Theatre by the Garrison Players on 21 September with The Review, or The Wags of Windsor.

1818: Performed in the African Theatre on 24 January by three visiting professional performers from Liverpool - a Mr Cooke, Mrs Cooke, Mrs Brough and Miss Williams, assisted by the Gentlemen Amateurs, probably including the talented Captain Carter. The afterpiece is The Devil To Pay (Coffey). They repeat it on 11 April, 1818, this time with The Weathercock (Tobin) as afterpiece.

1823: Performed by the English Theatricals company on 26 July, with The Blue Devils (Colman Jr)

1823: Performed by the English Theatricals company did the play on 9 August, with Modern Antiques (O'Keeffe)

1830: Performed on 11 September by All the World's a Stage , with The Married Bachelor, or Master and Man (O'Callaghan) as afterpiece.

1854: Performed in Cape Town on Friday, 18 August by the Amateur Company (aided by the Officers of the Garrison) in the Garrison Theatre. Also performed were Charles the Twelfth (Planché), A Peculiar Position author unnamed, but it was a translation from Scribe & Bayard by Planché) and The Two Bonnycastles (J.M. Morton).

1857: Performed as The Honeymoon, or How to Rule a Wife by Sefton Parry and his company in the Harrington Street Theatre, Cape Town, on 27 November, with Wilful Murder, or Deeds of Dreadful Note (Dubois), under the patronage of the Cape Volunteer Corps, whose band also performed on this occasion.

1862: Performed as The Honeymoon by Sefton Parry and his company in the Theatre Royal, Cape Town, on 30 January, with Stage-Struck (Cobb/Dimond), and a "Pas Seul" by Miss Powell.

1862: Performed as The Honeymoon by Sefton Parry and his company in the Theatre Royal, Cape Town, on 4 April, with The Waterman (Pascal or Dibdin). The evening a benefit for James Leffler

1867: Performed as The Honey-Moon in the Theatre Royal, Cape Town, by the Le Roy and Duret company on 28 October, with If the Cape Fits (Harrington and Yates) and a "Pas Seul" by Miss Clara.

. The evening a benefit for James Leffler. Bosman (1980: footnote on p. 112) wonders whether this may not have been the shorter version by Young and Pascal.

1875: Performed by Disney Roebuck and his company in the Bijou Theatre, Cape Town, on 29 July, with Brown and the Brahmins (Reece).