Live Theater - The Rivals - Bristol Old Vic Production (2004) torrent

Live Theater - The Rivals - Bristol Old Vic Production (2004)

Video Codec..........: XviD ISO MPEG-4
Video Bitrate........: 1866kbps
Duration.............: 2:22:40
Resolution...........: 848*468
Framerate............: 29.970
Audio Codec..........: 0x2000 (Dolby AC3) AC3
Audio Bitrate........: 192 kbps CBR
Audio Channels.......: 2
Filesize.............: 2,211,139,032
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http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0435726/

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rivals


The Rivals, a play by Richard Brinsley Sheridan, is a comedy of manners in five acts. It was first performed on 17 January 1775. It is generally considered to be one of the all-time great classics of the English stage. This is also supposed to have been George Washington\'s favorite play.

Characters

Sir Anthony Absolute, a wealthy baronet
Captain Jack Absolute, his son, disguised as Ensign Beverly
Faulkland, friend of Jack Absolute
Bob Acres, friend of Jack Absolute
Sir Lucius O\'Trigger, an Irish baronet
Fag, Captain Absolute\'s servant
David, Bob Acres\' servant
Thomas, Sir Anthony\'s servant
Lydia Languish, a wealthy teenaged heiress, in love with \"Ensign Beverley\"
Mrs. Malaprop, Lydia\'s middle-aged guardian
Julia Melville, a young relation of the Absolutes, in love with Faulkland
Lucy, Lydia\'s conniving maid



The language error called MALAPROPISM (A malapropism is an act of misusing or the habitual misuse of similar sounding words, especially with humorous results. An example is Yogi Berra\'s statement: \"Texas has a lot of electrical votes,\" rather than \"electoral votes\".) is named after a famous comic character in this play.

Mrs. Malaprop
All of these examples are from Sheridan\'s play The Rivals.
\"...promise to forget this fellow - to illiterate him, I say, quite from your memory.\" (i.e. obliterate; Act I Scene II Line 178)
\"...she might reprehend the true meaning of what she is saying.\" (i.e. comprehend; Act I Scene II Line 258)
\"...she\'s as headstrong as an allegory on the banks of Nile.\" (i.e. alligator; Act III Scene III Line 195)
\"Sure, if I reprehend any thing in this world it is the use of my oracular tongue, and a nice derangement of epitaphs!\" (i.e. comprehend, vernacular, arrangement, epithets)



DVD Review: The Rivals , Bristol Old Vic

“Female punctuation forbids me to say more”

...this Sunday evening, I sat down to this filmed version, by Heritage Theatre, of RB Sheridan’s The Rivals from the 2004 Bristol Old Vic production. It’s a rather popular play, we’ve seen a wickedly anarchic and amusing Celia Imrie-starring version at the Southwark Playhouse and a more traditional but impeccably acted version from Peter Hall in London in the last couple of years, so I was intrigued to see what this Rachel Kavanaugh-directed interpretation brought to the table.

It is an unfussy, uncluttered production - Peter MacKintosh’s evocative design making great use of perspective – which feels incredibly inclusive, even through the medium of film. Kavanaugh has her actors including the audience as an extra participant in all conversations so it feels we are constantly being confided in and party to all the gossip. It also helps that it is very well filmed, the quality is sharp and clear, there’s little unnecessary camera trickery or shots panning out to the audience, instead it focuses on a simple but strong representation of the action on stage, with key close-ups in all the right places: probably one of the best filmed theatre DVDs I’ve watched in that respect.

Performance-wise, Selina Cadell plays Mrs Malaprop rather straightly, not pushing the humour but rather presenting a seriousness to this woman which heightens the tragic humour, especially in the brutal (for her) final scene which is almost crushing. Anna Madeley is rather excellent as the vivacious Lydia Languish and well matched by Elisabeth Dermot-Walsh’s Julia – both bringing something of a modernity to this period piece which works extremely well.

Martin Hutson is pretty spectacular as the neurotic Faulkland and Adam Rayner – a man who is far too handsome for his own good – is heaps of fun as the young Absolute. In the rest of the ensemble Carli Norris stood out with her sparky knowingness and I very much enjoyed Paul Reynolds’ Fag, though I wasn’t much keen on Dylan Charles’ Bob Akers, a difficult buffoonish part to pull off and James Hayes’ O’Trigger is just not a character I much like in the play full stop.

I rented this particular DVD as I was interested in seeing it, but I can’t really imagine this being something people return to time and time again and therefore buying. But with its fascinating interview with Rachel Kavanaugh talking about her approach to the play and the quality of the recording, I would say it would be an ideal educational resource for drama groups and/or teachers thinking about putting on the play or studying it.