April 2020, however due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the production eventually opened on 15 July 2022. The play has been updated to July 1940 to coincide with the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Britain. Biographical sources Richard Brinsley Sheridan, The Rivals (New Mermaids 1979, Elizabeth Duthie, Ed.). Linda Kelly, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, A Life (Sinclair-Stevenson 1997). Brooke Allen, The Scholar of Scandal, a review of Fintan O’Toole, The Traitor's Kiss: The Life of Richard Brinsley Sheridan, 1751–1816 (Farrar, Straus & Giroux 1998), at New Criterion. Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751–1816) at Theatre History. References External links Full text of The Rivals at Project Gutenberg Plays by Richard Brinsley Sheridan 1775 plays Plays set in the 18th century