Tuesday, October 3, 2017

The Rivals by Richard Brinsley Sheridan

Directed by Mark Kozlowski

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A Note from the Director

What could be more Romantic than abandoning a life of Privilege and eloping with an impecunious Ensign without the requisite Connexions? To Miss Lydia Languish, voracious Reader of romance Novels, this is an ideal Situation, and she has set her Cap on Ensign Beverley. Unbeknownst to her, Ensign Beverly is in fact the alter ego of Captain Jack Absolute, heir to the Fortune of a Baronet and who is merely shamming his lower Station. Will Jack and Lydia be able to escape the sundry Challenges posed by Wealth and popular Approbation of their Union? Elsewhere in Bath, Jack's friend Mr. Faulkland is also in love, but has strange ideas about the proper Behaviour of Lovers. Will Faulkland and Julia's romance survive his surfeit of Romanticism, Neuroticism, and Egotism? Or are all of our Lovers doomed to be shot by the violence-loving Sir Lucius O'Trigger, who believes that having no Quarrel with a given Gentlemen is all the more reason to challenge him to a Duel?

The Rivals is a classic comedy of manners first performed in January 1775, and would be famous for coining the term "malapropism" and for being one of George Washington's favorite plays. It was not initially a success, partially due to its length and partially due to its portrayal of the Irish Sir Lucius O'Trigger. After speedy revisions, it was warmly received, and established Richard Brinsley Sheridan as a famous playwright and wit, who would go on to write other famous works such as School for Scandal, as well as sit in Parliament as Member for Stafford, Westminster, and Ilchester.

The setting: Bath, India. Somewhere between 1775 and present.

Cast of Characters: