English comedy has never really advanced much beyond the state of technical accomplishment and brilliance of dialogue to which Sheridan brought it in the eighteenth century. The two scenes that are being played tonight are both typical of the Irish playwright's work. The Critic is a notable example of the literary warfare in which the wits of the period so frequently engaged; and as for The Rivals, the loves of Lydia Languish and' her Beverley, the malapropisms of Mrs. Malaprop, the crotchets of Sir Anthony Absolute and the thunders and lightnings of Sir Lucius O'Trigger are never long absent from the present-day stage.
'THE RIVALS'
'THE CRITIC'
Act IIâThe Rehearsal Scene
Players in the rehearsal of ' The Spanish Armada'
THE STATION REPERTORY PLAYERS
The characters in the play speak in the following order : - Sir Christopher Hatton , Sir Walter Releigh , the Earl of Leicester, The Governor, the Master of Horse, Sentinels, Tilburina, Confidante, Whiskerandos and Beefeater.
