The Rivals

Celia Imrie, Charity Wakefield, Harry Hadden-Paton and Ella Smith lead an outstanding cast in a new production of Sheridan's masterpiece The Rivals for Red Handed Theatre Company at Southwark Playhouse.

In its first major London revival for ten years, The Rivals (1776) will be brought bang up to date by Red Handed's Artistic Director Jessica Swale (also Associate Director at Out of Joint) in this inventive new production, featuring live music and dance. It follows the meddling Mrs Malaprop (Celia Imrie) on her quest to marry off her spirited niece Lydia Languish (Charity Wakefield). But Lydia has ideas of her own about the poetic but penniless Beverley, unaware that he and his rival, the handsome Captain Jack Absolute, are one and the same person (Harry Hadden-Paton). Meanwhile, her cousin Julia (Ella Smith) is betrothed to the jealousy-prone Faulkland (Tom McDonald), and the stage is set for a delightful tale of romantic entanglement and disguise.