Season Selects: The Rivals

Choosing which plays to see in a season is always a tough decision. But we've got you! Learn a little more about the unique greatness of each of this summer's plays in the weekly Season Selects series. First up: Richard Brinsley Sheridan's comedy, The Rivals.

The Rivals

By Richard Brinsley Sheridan

Directed by Aaron Posner

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Fast Facts:

Playing: Hill Theatre | June 11 – September 27
Featuring: Tracy Michelle Arnold, Kelsey Brennan, Tim Gittings, Phoebe González, David Daniel, Josh Krause, Brian Mani, Ronald Román-Meléndez, James Ridge & Marcus Truschinski
Genre: Restoration Comedy / Satire / Comedy of Manners
Go If You Liked: The Critic (2011), The Recruiting Officer (2017), She Stoops to Conquer (2019)
Last Produced at APT: 1997

About the Play

If there’s one thing we’ve learned in recent years, it’s the power of a good laugh. The kind that bubbles up from deep in the soul and holds us gleefully, helplessly captive. This season’s answer to that basic human need is The Rivals – just the type of comedy we’ve all been pining for. Completely ridiculous, but with a full and beating heart, offering characters who are delightfully simple slices of humanity. Characters that, when held up to the light, reflect that humanity right back at us. (Lydia Languish? Jack Absolute? We’ll take one of each, with a side of Mrs. Malaprop). It’s a line these actors walk with grace and aplomb, and no matter which character enters stage right, you know they’re there for a good time. The return to joy we’ve all been craving – a big, beautiful, starlit comedy.

If you’re in the mood for a little high comedy, Sheridan is your guy. The Dublin-born playwright penned five of the genre greats, including The School for Scandal (last produced at APT in 1987) and The Critic (produced in 2011). Sheridan pretty quickly moved on from playwrighting to being employed as a theater manager (which he was, by some accounts, not very good at), a politician and, eventually, landed in debtor’s prison. Still, his plays remain top-of-mind for witty and relevant satires lampooning the conventions of the day. In opposition to “Crying Comedies” – highly oversentimentalized comedies and dramas that were typical in Georgian Theater – Sheridan’s plays were coined “Laughing Comedies” by Oliver Goldsmith, whose plays also fell into that niche.

Artistic Director Brenda DeVita Says:

“There are only so many truly great comedies in this genre, and Sheridan’s are pretty much the top of the line. And we figured that, after keeping The Rivals on ice for more than 30 years, it was time for it to make a comeback. Actually, it's kind of crazy how fitting this play is to these times. The characters are so absurd and ridiculous - like Lydia Languish and Malaprop and Jack Absolute, whose major characteristics are right out there in their names - and yet these archetypes are very much still walking around in our society. APT's acting company is uniquely equipped to take on these characters and this hilariously complex storyline, which Sheridan used to satirize the elite class of his time. And at the same time make it easy to follow, and absolutely delightful to watch. They do this better than anyone, and after the past couple of years, we deserve to laugh a little. We’ve earned it.”