The Rivals

The Rivals is a story of love, disguise, disinheritance, duels, and deception. It revolves around parallel plots involving two pairs of young lovers. Jack Absolute must invent an alter-ego to woo Lydia Languish, whose romanticized ideals lead her to spurn the well-off Absolute; and Jack’s friend Faulkland loses his beloved Julia through his own doubt and mistrust. Amidst mistaken identities, frivolous fops, furious fathers, and sly servants (including the famous Ms. Malaprop and her fusillade of misconstrued quips) everything can only be righted in the finale by a duel to the death. In this intricate, farcical comedy, Brinsley Sheridan uses brilliant phrase-making and whimsical humor to satirize sentimental drama in a work that speaks across the ages.

The Titans Theatre Company presents this production as part of its “Grand Illusions” season.

There is an added performance on Wednesday, April 16 at 7:00pm and no performance on Sunday, April 20. The performance on Saturday, April 19 takes place at 2:00pm only.