On Thursday, 15th October 2009, as part of the Theatre Royal's  Restoring the Repertoire programme, the theatre's very accomplished acting group entertained the audience at the Guildhall in Bury St Edmund's, Suffolk, with an excellent rehearsed reading of Douglas Jerrold's play
The Rent Day which brought the play wonderfully to life. See review in the FOWNC newsletter 67 Jan 2010

 In the programme the play is described as a boisterous mix of sentiment and broad comedy, telling the story of virtuous Martin Heywood's struggle against repossession, and featuring a colourful cast of characters including the treacherous steward Crumbs, avaricious appraiser Bullfrog and unscrupulous Silver Jack. The play is said to have been inspired by Scottish artist Sir David Wilkie's 1807 painting The Rent Day (below).