The Rivals (Further Reading)

Further Reading

• Kelly, Linda, Richard Brinsley Sheridan: A Life, Sinclair-Stevenson, 1997.

  Kelly presents a detailed examination of the playwright’s life, with a balanced portrayal of both his brilliance and his dalliance.

• Morwood, James, The Life and Works of Richard Brinskey Sheridan, Scottish Academic Press, 1985.

  Morwood’s biographical account focuses primarily on Sheridan’s plays and theater management.

• Morwood, James, and David Crane, eds., Sheridan Studies, Cambridge University Press, 1995.

  Morwood and Crane collect ten scholarly essays on Sheridan’s plays, including one on producing Sheridan by director Peter Wood.

• Porter, Roy, English Society in the Eighteenth Century, The Penguin Society History of Britain, Penguin Books, 1990.

  Porter looks at the political, social, and economic world of eighteenth-century British society.

• Stone, George Winchester, Jr., ed., The Stage and the Page: London’s “Whole Show” in the Eighteenth-Century Theatre, University of California Press, 1981.

  Acting, stage construction, song, and the various forms of comedy and drama are discussed in the context of eighteenth-century society.

• Taylor, Richard C., “Future Retrospection: Rereading Sheridan’s Reviewers,” in Sheridan Studies, edited by James Morwood and David Crane, Cambridge University Press, 1995, pp. 47-57.

  Taylor presents a collection of snippets from contemporary and later reviews of The Rivals.

• Worth, Katherine, Sheridan and Goldsmith, St. Martin’s Press, 1992.

  Worth puts the key plays of Sheridan and Goldsmith into the context of the conventions of eighteenth-century drama and comedy, especially sentimental comedy.