The Rivals

Abstract

Sheridan was born in Dublin in 1751. His father, Thomas Sheridan, was at the time the manager of the Smock Alley Theatre in Dublin. After a serious riot in the theatre in 1754, Thomas relinquished control of the theatre and moved for two years to London, working as an actor under John Rich’s management at Covent Garden. He returned to Dublin in 1756 and attempted once more to manage the Smock Alley Theatre, but this time he faced the prospect of ruinous competition from a new theatre built by the actor Spranger Barry. Once again, he was forced to return to London. Thomas Sheridan was one of those individuals who seem destined to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Apart from his skills as an actor (and he was once considered a potential rival to Garrick), he also had talents as an educational theorist and a compiler of dictionaries. None of these enterprises met with sufficient acclaim to ensure a stable livelihood. Thomas aspired to the status of a gentleman, but all he managed was to accumulate sufficient debts to oblige him to flee from his creditors to France with his wife in 1764.