The Play’s the Thing
It’s the birthday of Richard Brinsley Sheridan, born near Dublin, Ireland (1751). He’s best known for his play The Rivals (1775), about a couple, Lydia Languish and Captain Jack Absolute, who want to get married against the wishes of their elders, Mrs. Malaprop and Sir Anthony Absolute. The first performance was an hour too long and much too bawdy for the audience. Sheridan rewrote it, and the play was re-produced 11 days later to an enthusiastic reception. The play became so successful that Sheridan was able to buy the theater it played in.
Richard Sheridan said, “The question actors most often get asked is how they can bear saying the same things over and over again, night after night, but God knows the answer to that is: Don’t we all anyway? Might as well get paid for it.”
From the Writer’s Almanac by Garrison Keillor
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