The play was produced at Covent Garden on May 1st, 1837, by Macready, who himself took the part of Strafford.

Helen Faucit, then a novice on the stage, gave an adequate rendering of the difficult part of Lady Carlisle.

For the rest, the complexion of the piece, as Browning describes it, after one of the latest rehearsals, was "perfect gallows." Great historical personages were presented by actors who strutted or slouched, who whimpered or drawled.

The financial distress at Covent Garden forbade any splendour or even dignity of scenery or of costumes.[19] The text was considerably altered--and not always judiciously--from that of the printed play, which had appeared before its production on the stage.

Yet on the first night _Strafford_ was not damned, and on the second it was warmly applauded.[20] After the fifth performance the wretched Pym refused to save his mother England even once more, and the play was withdrawn.