The Protestant Sheridans were initially of Gaelic Catholic inventory and also had deep roots in Quilca, Co.. Cavan. Richard's grandfather, Thomas, was a poet and also a buddy of Jonathan Swift's, along with his dad, also known as Thomas, was a renowned actor, theatre director, playwright, and elocution teacher.
Richard's first drama, The Rivals (1775), was based loosely on his own adventures of fighting duels throughout his courtship of the gorgeous British singer, Elizabeth Ann Linley; the drama also attracted an unproduced play of his mommy's, A Trip to Bath. From an Irish perspective, The Rivals is vital, since it creates judicious utilization of the inventory amount of the Phase Irishman. Since Joep Leerssen has contended the personality of Sir Lucius O'Trigger could be violent and a fortune hunter (like most Stage Irish characters made by English playwrights over the centuries), but he behaves with a level of independence and agency that's extremely out of keeping with the rigid limitations put on most Period Irish characters. Regardless of this, O'Trigger was perceived with the play's opening night crowd for a slur on the Irish. Sheridanbeing a proud Irishman, couldn't let this stand, therefore, after that nighthe toned down facets of their personality which were perceived as overly anti-Irish. To convince audiences of the partiality to his native state, he quickly composed a drama featuring a Irish hero: St. Patrick's Day, along with the Scheming Lieutenant (1775).
The excellent Irish novelist Elizabeth Bowen formerly noted that Sheridan's classic"English" comedies, for example The School for Scandal (1777) and The Critic (1779), possess a"bizarre", outsider's view about the English, and it is definitely ascribable into Sheridan's Irish heritage. From an Irish perspective, Sheridan's final drama, Pizarro (1799), is also quite significant, as it's a powerful anti-colonial message. Sheridan served at the British parliament from 1780 to 1812, and many speeches in Pizarro reflect the powerful anti-colonial statements he made concerning the English mistreatment of both Ireland and India during his political career.
Back in 1776, Sheridan became director of this Drury Lane Theatre and stayed in that place until the theatre burnt in 1809. Legend has it that Sheridan was drinking wine whilst watching the flame, and, when contested he quipped,"A man may certainly be permitted to have a glass of wine with his own fireside."
Read more about Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751-1816)
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