The Rivals: A Comedy (Dodo Press)

Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751-1816) was an Irish playwright and Whig statesman. Richard was educated at Harrow School, and was to study law. However, his highly romantic elopement with Elizabeth Linley put paid to such hopes. His first play, The Rivals, produced at Covent Garden in 1775, was a failure on its first night. Sheridan cast a more capable actor for the role of the comic Irishman for its second performance, and it was a smash which immediately established the young playwright’s ...