Cirrus@Austlit

According to Lurline Stuart (in her Academy Edition of His Natural Life), Weekes's version was first produced on 14 June 1886 at the Mechanics' Institute in Williamstown (Victoria). She also notes that it was later performed in San Francisco in 1888 and New York in 1889.

George Leitch's version was produced in Melbourne around this time, with much fanfare in newspapers about its status as the first production of the play in Melbourne theatres, prompting some outcry from Weekes. See, for example, 'The Stage in Australia', Otago Witness, 2 July 1886, p.23, which notes that Weekes 'protests against the performance on the ground that he had previously registered a drama on the same subject under the full title'.