Abstract
In The Rivals Richard Brinsley Sheridan uses the allegorical possibilities of setting, character, and plot to represent the Irish expatriate’s crossing act. Bath is home to none of the characters, who, like immigrants on the move, occupy temporary residences and perform in a social milieu where they may refashion themselves and compel others to respond to their new scripts. Unlike the stage Irishman Sir Lucius O’Trigger, Jack Absolute and Bob Acres represent this crossing by assuming a different status or style. Acting as Beverley, a nobody rather than a gentleman, Jack performs the expatriate’s origin and his aspiration. His double Acres acts the macaroni in the town to compensate for his background. Drawing on the trickster of an earlier expatriate dramatist, Sheridan lets Jack succeed in the comedy that completed his own transition to a gentleman in London.
