Review: The Rivals, Bristol Old Vic

“The cause of all this is L-O-V-E, love, Thomas!” As the hero’s servant, Fag, declares in the opening scene, The Rivals is a play about the many guises and vagaries of love – and the testing of it.

We have the dutiful obedience of filial love, as demanded of young Jack by his father Sir Anthony Absolute; the romantic, almost courtly, love of Jack for his idol, Lydia Languish; the paranoid insecure love of tortured Falkland for his Lucy; the madcap infatuation of Lydia for her penniless ensign Beverley (Jack, in disguise); and the autumnal love-match between the elderly Sir Anthony and the word-mangling Mrs Malaprop.

The taking of a Polaroid photograph at the opening of Act 2 is a neat reminder that, as well as being a snapshot of ‘social intercourse’ in fashionable 18th century England, Sheridan’s best-loved play still lends itself readily, in the right hands, to a contemporary reading. Director Dominic Hill (artistic director of Glasgow’s Citizens Theatre) approaches the play intelligently through the linguistic richness of the text, squeezing out every single opportunity it offers – and it offers many – to create an entertaining, lively and stylish spectacle for our amusement, with the lightest of touches. As Sheridan’s love of language and deployment of ornately witty turns of phrase in The Rivals is up there with the best of Swift and Wilde, approaching the play through language brings it fully to life.

Tribute must also be paid to casting director Maggie Lunn for getting such a strong cast of actors into the right roles – actors who all have a great sense of comic timing and who deliver their text in a wonderful range of voices, cadences and accents. Special mention must go to Julie Legrand’s beautifully dosed Mrs Malaprop, with nods to Hyacinth Bucket and The Archers’ Lynda Snell. Lucy Briggs-Owen plays Lydia as a blonde Restoration bimbo made more in Chelsea than Bath, with a petulant physicality that makes her gorgeous costume writhe and flounce across the stage. Keith Dunphy and Lee Mengo turn in excellent supporting comic cameos as the Irishman Sir Lucius O’Trigger and the Welsh Bob Acres. And along with Lily Donovan as the croaky-voiced maid who is well-tipped for her services, every kingdom of the UK is represented in accents, including South London.

Tom Rogers’ set serves the production perfectly, rather than dominating it or being overwrought, as is sadly so often the case with contemporary theatre design. His series of stunning painted cloths within flying frames are stylish mood-boards that evoke the fabrics and wallpapers of the day, again with the lightest of touches. And small modern objects seem to fall backwards through a tear in time without seeming at all out of place as props: a manual typewriter, a pair of sunglasses, a camera, an e-cigarette.

This is a hugely enjoyable show in which everything has been got right. Apart from the entertainment factor, it’s worth seeing it for the set and costumes alone. And do treat yourself to a programme – its moving and informative essay on Sheridan (by Amelia Sears) and its note from the designer are, for once, well worth the cover price.

The Rivals continues at Bristol Old Vic until Saturday, October 1. For more info and to book tickets, visit www.bristololdvic.org.uk/therivals.html