The Rivals
The Rivals, Sheridan’s classic comedy of manners is a portrait made from his own life, his scandalous marriage and the characters he had come to know in Bath. Instead of inventing a story and pretending it was real, he offers his own reality as if it were an invention. Sheridan’s great satire turns the familiar world of arranged marriages, courtship and rivalry on its head. One of the sharpest and funniest social comedies of the late eighteenth century is presented here in the perfect setting of a theatre built just nine years before the play was written.
“Rachel Kavanaugh’s elegant, nimble-footed production is the best account of Sheridan’s play I’ve seen.” THE SUNDAY TIMES
“..whenever Selina Cadell sails on to the stage in this latest revival, a rose-red galleon half as old again as she wants to be, the evening’s pleasure-content soars. She deranges her epigraphs with an unstressed equanimity, and never the hint of a doubt crosses her carefully composed countenance.” THE TIMES
Cast and creatives
CAST
Fag / David: PAUL REYNOLDS
The Coachman/servant: CHRIS BIANCHI
Lucy: CARLI NORRIS
Lydia Languish: ANNA MADELEY
Julia Melville: ELISABETH DERMOT-WALSH
Mrs Malaprop: SELINA CADELL
Sir Anthony Absolute: DAVID BURKE
Captain jack Absolute: ADAM RAYNER
Faulkland: MARTIN HUTSON
Bob Acres: DYLAN CHARLES
Sir Lucius O’Trigger: JAMES HAYES
PRODUCTION
Directed for the stage by: RACHEL KAVANAUGH
Designed by: PETER McKINTOSH
Lighting Design: HARTLEY T A KEMP
Composer: TERRY DAVIES
Sound Design: JASON BARNES
Choreography: STUART HOPPS
Casting: SAM CHANDLEY
Stage Manager: PIP HOROBIN
Deputy Stage Manager: TIM HUGHES
Assistant Stage Manager: JULIETTE TAYLOR
Assistant Director: AMELIA SEARS
FOR HERITAGE THEATRE
Producer: ROBERT MARSHALL
Video Director: ROBIN LOUGH
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