Theatre

The Rivals

Alan Hindle | Saturday 20 August, 2011 18:59

Written by Richard Brinsley Sheridan in 1775, then hastily rewritten following public outrage and hurled apples, The Rivals quickly became one of the most popular play of the 18th century and still pretty funny in the 21st. I saw a full-length, five act version in Vancouver and had to flee at the half time break, already two and a half hours in. The King’s Players, however, understand that the best way to respect a text is to not revere it. They have chopped and rewritten the play, setting it in 1928 Monte Carlo to jumpy Tin Pan Alley tunes.

Young stud Jack Absolute, a sort of Enlightenment era Bugs Bunny figure, has been wooing a rich young lady, Lydia Languish, but pretending to be a down-at-heels actor named Ensign Beverly. His father, the ruthless Sir Anthony and the self-righteous, lexicon-challenged dowager Mrs. Malaprop unwittingly force him into marriage with the same Miss Languish. Things couldn’t be more perfect for Absolute, but having wound his way into the perfect outcome through deceit and arrogance it inevitably unravels. The entire cast of The Rivals are excellent. David Bentley as the tyrannical Sir Anthony doesn’t have the physicality to be menacing as the character needs, but he does have a little of the Don Corleone about him, as is able to turn his bluster to anger on a dime, so I imagined that when he wasn’t on stage he was in the wings with orange slices in his mouth terrifying children. That made him a littler scarier. I thoroughly enjoyed myself at The Rivals, laughing and shovelling ice cream into my face . The clothes are also gorgeous, and costumier Kirsty Young deserves huge credit for digging up all this period stuff, presumably for cheap. At two hours twenty, including interval, it’s long for a Fringe play, but should be remounted for a longer, hopefully at the Gatehouse.

Camden Fringe Festival page

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