The Rivals: Free Audiobook and Listening Guide

The Rivals, credited to Richard Brinsley Sheridan, is available as a LibriVox volunteer audiobook. This guide identifies the recording, its source summary and its audio tracks.

About the work

The LibriVox catalogue summary, preserved with the recording, reads:

LibriVox recording of The Rivals by Richard Brinsley Sheridan. The play is set in Bath in the 18th century, a town legendary for conspicuous consumption and fashion at the time. Wealthy, fashionable people went there to "take the waters", which were believed to have healing properties. The plot centres on the two young lovers, Lydia and Jack. Lydia, who reads a lot of popular novels of the time, wants a purely romantic love affair. To court her, Jack pretends to be "Ensign Beverley", a poor officer. Lydia is enthralled with the idea of eloping with a poor soldier in spite of her guardian, Mrs. Malaprop, a moralistic widow. Mrs. Malaprop is the chief comic figure of the play, thanks to her continual misuse of words that sound like the words she intends but mean something completely different. (The term malapropism was coined in reference to the character.) Lydia has two other suitors: Bob Acres (a somewhat buffoonish country gentleman), and Sir Lucius O'Trigger, an impoverished and combative Irish gentleman. Sir Lucius pays Lucy to carry love notes between him and Lydia (who uses the name "Delia"), but Lucy is swindling him: "Delia" is actually Mrs. Malaprop. (Summary by Wikipedia) Cast: Fag: Algy Pug Thomas/Servant: Brett W. Downey Lucy: Linda Hogan Lydia Languish: Elizabeth Klett Julia Melville: Arielle Lipshaw Mrs. Malaprop: Mil Nicholson Sir Anthony Absolute: Andy Minter Captain Jack Absolute: John Fricker Faulkland: mb Bob Acres: Peter Bishop Boy/Maid: rashada Sir Lucius O'Trigger: Lars Rolander David: Matthew Reece Narrator: Mary Ann Audio edited by: Elizabeth Klett

Recording facts

• Recording title: The Rivals
• Author credits: Richard Brinsley Sheridan
• Language: English
• Original MP3 tracks: 5
• Listed recording duration: 3:03:46

Catalogue topics

• audio
• comedy
• play
• sheridan

Track guide

1. 1 - Prologue and Act 1 — 32:53
2. 2 - Act 2 — 35:37
3. 3 - Act 3 — 39:41
4. 4 - Act 4 — 33:12
5. 5 - Act 5 and Epilogue — 42:25

Listen to this recording

Open the complete recording and player on Internet Archive. The player includes the full track list and available download formats.

Source and rights

This is a record from LibriVox's official Internet Archive collection, with a public-domain licence recorded in its metadata. LibriVox's policy includes its catalogue summaries as well as its recordings. Its public-domain assessment follows United States law; copyright status can differ elsewhere. The summary and track facts are reproduced and reformatted from that record. Dates attached to the archive upload are not treated as original book publication dates.