The play premiered at the Prince of Wales Theater in Birmingham, where it was successful enough to be moved to the Haymarket Theatre in London, on 30 April 1864. It was a major success for the actor Edward Askew Sothern, who played the title role, but came later to be associated with the actor Charles Wyndham. The play was designed as a star vehicle, since the principal actor has to portray David Garrick himself as an actor giving a performance. A scene from the play was painted by Edward Matthew Ward, a friend of Sothern's.