The Rivals

The Rivals is a comedy of manners by Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751–1816) [1].

The original text

It was the young Sheridan's first play and it premiered at Covent Garden Theatre on 17 January 1775, and published in the same year by John Wilkie.

Translated into Dutch as De Medeminnaars by M.P. Lindo and published by Kruseman, Haarlem: 1871.

Translated and adapted into Afrikaans as Liefde in Satyn by the members of the André Rousseau Theatre Company in 1947.

1807: Performed in the African Theatre, Cape Town by the Garrison Players on 9 July, with The Old Maid (Murphy) and an epilogue written an spoken by Captain Collins. Mrs Kinniburgh was also one of the performers.

1808: Performed by the Garrison Players on 22 September (originally having been planned for 10 September) in the African Theatre, with Miss in her Teens, or, The Medley of Lovers (Garrick), and a variety programme including songs and gymnastic presentations (the latter billed as "by students of Astley"). The evening is a benefit for the widows and orphans of the 89th Regiment. Bosman [2] (1928: p.76) cites the titles from a Dutch advert, as De Medeminnaars and Het Meisje boven de Tien.

1822: Performed with The Prisoner at Large (O'Keeffe) on Monday 28 October by the Garrison Amateur Company, as a benefit performance for Mrs Smith, Mrs Delamore and Mrs Green.

1823: Performed by the Amateur Company of the Garrison, in the African Theatre, Cape Town on 28 June, with Bombastes Furioso (Rhodes) as an afterpiece.

1837: Performed in Grahamstown in this year by the Grahamstown Amateur Company, performing under the motto Honi Soit Qui Mal Y Pense , with Bombastes Furioso (Rhodes) as afterpiece

1838: Performed on 2 April by the 27th Enniskillen Regiment (see Garrison Players) in "The Theatre, New Barracks" (see Barracks Theatre) with The Irish Widow (Garrick).

1838: It was apparently performed in Grahamstown again in this year by the Grahamstown Amateur Company, performing under the motto Honi Soit Qui Mal Y Pense (Though there is some difference of opinion between F.C.L. Bosman and P.W. Laidler on whether it was not perhaps the performance in Cape Town - see Bosman, 1928: pp. 388-9).

191*: Performed in Pretoria by **, featuring Lionel B. Stent,

1947: Performed in Afrikaans as Liefde in Satyn by the André Rousseau Theatre Company, directed by André Rousseau, with Fanie Bekker (Sir Antonius Absoluut), André Rousseau (Sir Lucius O’Trigger), Zandberg Jansen (Kaptein Absoluut), Estelle Pentz (Mev. Malaprop), Marie Viljoen (Lydia), Hannes Muller (Thomas and Mnr. Akkers), Helene van der Berg (Julia and Lizzie), Nico Lombard (Stompies) and Leon Trichardt (Mnr. Volkland), with sets and costumes by the painter David Botha and stage management by Fanie Bekker. The play premièred in Paarl on 1 March and the production then moved to the Hofmeyr Theatre in Cape Town, before going on a national tour of the the Union of South Africa.