In 1879, Hardy adapted the novel under the title “The Mistress of the Farm: A Pastoral Drama”. When J. Comyns Carr suggested something similar, Hardy gave him his version, which he said Carr “modified… in places, to suit modern carpentry &c”. Hardy’s experience of adapting a novel for the theatre was soured by controversy – the managers of the St James’s Theatre, London, John Hare and William Hunter Kendal, on reading the Comyns Carr/Hardy adaptation, first accepted it and then rejected it; instead staging Arthur Wing Pinero’s play "The Squire", which appeared to be heavily plagiarised from the earlier script. This enraged Comyns Carr and, to a lesser extent, Hardy. Prompted by Comyns Carr, Hardy wrote indignant letters to "The Times" and the "Daily News". Comyns Carr/Hardy’s version was finally staged at the Royal Court Theatre in Liverpool, where it opened on 27 February 1882 as "Far from The Madding Crowd," with Marion Terry as Bathsheba and Charles Kelly as Oak. The reviews were mixed, one critic calling their adaptation “a miniature melodrama… well placed in the provinces”, while praising "The Squire"’s appeal to “spectators of somewhat refined taste”. The production subsequently transferred to the Globe Theatre in London, opening on 29 April 1882, presenting a similar cast, but with Mrs Bernard Beere now playing Bathsheba. Inspired by these performances, a further, clumsy cut-and-paste version, of the novel was performed in America shortly afterwards, at the Union Square Theatre, New York in April 1882. The play was panned: according to the theatre reviewer for the American journal "Spirit of the Times", it was unfair “to Thomas Hardy, to the public, and to Miss Morris, although she got even by spoiling the play after Mr Cazauran had spoiled the novel”. This experience made Hardy wary of theatrical adaptations and the potential risk to his reputation both from authorised adaptations and from unauthorised ones.