Sheridan's gift for turning situations on their heads is at the foundation of this farcicial comedy of manners. In the word-play of the comic scenes and the sentimentality of the lovers, Sheridan was writing for an eighteenth-century audience which prided itself on its decorum, sensibility and love of language. The Rivals is still as successful today. David Garrick remarked on watching one of its first performances in 1775: 'I see this play will run,' and 'run' it has ever since.