 The play has often been interpreted as a kind of satirical commentary on Shaw's own highly successful earlier play "Candida" (which one of the characters gets tickets to see).It was first performed by Daly in New York as a curtain raiser for "The Man of Destiny".The original 1905 London cast were Harley Granville-Barker as Henry Apjohn, A. G. Poulton as Teddy Bompas, and Gertrude Kingston as Aurora Bompas.