Sheridan was born in Dublin in 1751 and became famous in London through comedies including The Rivals and The School for Scandal. In 1776 he acquired an interest in the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, and remained closely associated with its management, finances and productions during a period when the theatre stood at the centre of London cultural life.
Sheridan entered Parliament in 1780 as a Whig and became known for eloquent speeches as well as theatrical success. He was closely associated with Charles James Fox and took a prominent role in the impeachment proceedings against Warren Hastings. Political reverses and the destruction of Drury Lane by fire in 1809 worsened his financial difficulties, and the final years of his life were marked by debt and declining influence.
In Julia Golding’s Den of Thieves, Richard Brinsley Sheridan is not merely a name attached to Drury Lane: he sends Cat to Paris with a theatre company and draws her theatrical skills into intelligence work during the French Revolution. Cat Among the Pigeons and Cat O'nine Tails keep Sheridan’s Drury Lane world as Cat’s professional base while her adventures carry her into abolitionist London and then naval service across the Atlantic. Black Heart of Jamaica extends that theatrical network to a touring company in the Caribbean, showing how the stage can carry Cat into the colonial world beyond London. Sarah Gristwood’s Bird of Paradise provides the historical theatre context through Mary Robinson’s career at Drury Lane, where Sheridan was a central manager and impresario of the late Georgian stage.
