Richard Brinsley Sheridan

Biography

Richard Brinsley Butler Sheridan (1751–1816) was an Anglo-Irish playwright, poet, and politician who wrote some of the most brilliant comedies in the English language. Born in Dublin to a literary family—his mother was a novelist and his father an actor and elocutionist—Sheridan moved to England and burst onto the London theatrical scene at age twenty-four with The Rivals (1775), which introduced the immortal Mrs. Malaprop. The School for Scandal (1777), his masterpiece, is widely considered the greatest English comedy of manners since the Restoration. The Critic (1779), a hilarious burlesque of theatrical conventions, completed his major theatrical output. Remarkably, Sheridan essentially retired from playwriting at twenty-eight to pursue a career in politics, serving as a Whig Member of Parliament for over thirty years. He became one of the era’s greatest orators—his speech during the impeachment of Warren Hastings is considered one of the finest ever delivered in the House of Commons. He also managed the Drury Lane Theatre for many years. His later life was marked by financial difficulties, and he died in poverty despite his fame.