= The_School_for

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= The_School_for_Scandal =
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Introduction
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'The School for Scandal' is a comedy of manners written by Richard
Brinsley Sheridan. It was first performed in London at Drury Lane
Theatre on 8 May 1777.

Act I
=======
Scene I: Lady Sneerwell, a wealthy young widow, and her hireling Snake
discuss her various scandal-spreading plots. Snake asks why she is so
involved in the affairs of Sir Peter Teazle, his ward Maria, and
Charles and Joseph Surface, two young men under Sir Peter's informal
guardianship, and why she has not yielded to the attentions of Joseph,
who is highly respectable. Lady Sneerwell confides that Joseph desires
Maria, who is an heiress, and that Maria desires Charles. Thus she and
Joseph are plotting to alienate Maria from Charles by putting out
rumours of an affair between Charles and Sir Peter's new young wife,
Lady Teazle. Joseph arrives to confer with Lady Sneerwell. Maria
herself then enters, fleeing the attentions of Sir Benjamin Backbite
and his uncle, Crabtree. Mrs. Candour enters and ironically talks
about how "tale-bearers are as bad as the tale-makers." Soon after
that, Sir Benjamin and Crabtree also enter, bringing a good deal of
gossip with them. One item is the imminent return of the Surface
brothers' rich uncle Sir Oliver from the East Indies, where he has
been for sixteen years; another is Charles' dire financial situation.

Scene II: Sir Peter complains of Lady Teazle's spendthrift ways.
Rowley, the former steward of the Surfaces' late father, arrives, and
Sir Peter gives him an earful on the subject. He also complains that
Maria has refused Joseph, whom he calls "a model for the young men of
the age," and seems attached to Charles, whom he denounces as a
profligate. Rowley defends Charles, and then announces that Sir Oliver
has just arrived from the East Indies. Oliver has instructed them not
to tell his nephews of his arrival so that he may "make some trial of
their dispositions".

Act II
========
Scene I: Sir Peter argues with his wife, Lady Teazle, refusing to be
"ruined by [her] extravagance." He reminds her of her recent and far
humbler country origins. Lady Teazle excuses herself by appealing to
"the fashion", and departs to visit Lady Sneerwell. Despite their
quarrel, Sir Peter still finds himself charmed by his wife even when
she is arguing with him.

Scene II: At Lady Sneerwell's, the scandal-mongers have great fun at
the expense of friends not present. Lady Teazle and Maria arrive; Lady
Teazle joins in, but Maria is disgusted. So is Sir Peter, when he
arrives, and rather breaks up the party with his comments. He departs,
the others retire to the next room, and Joseph seizes the opportunity
to court Maria, who rejects him again. Lady Teazle returns and
dismisses Maria, and it is revealed that Lady Teazle is seriously
flirting with Joseph - who doesn't want her, but cannot afford to
alienate her.

Scene III: Sir Oliver calls on his old friend Sir Peter. He is amused
by Sir Peter's marriage to a young wife. Their talk turns to the
Surface brothers. Sir Peter praises Joseph's high morals but Sir
Oliver suspects that he might be a hypocrite.

Act III
=========
Scene I: Rowley describes his plan for Sir Oliver to visit each of the
brothers 'incognito' to test their characters. Sir Oliver will
disguise himself as their needy relative Mr. Stanley, and ask each for
his help. Rowley also brings in the "friendly Jew" Moses, a
moneylender who has tried to help Charles, to explain Charles'
position. Moses mentions that he is to introduce Charles to yet
another moneylender ("Mr. Premium") that very evening. Sir Oliver
decides (at Sir Peter's suggestion) that with Moses' assistance, he
will pose as Premium when visiting Charles while still intending to
visit Joseph as Stanley.

Sir Peter is left alone and when Maria enters, he tries to convince
her to marry Joseph expressing him as a worthier match than Charles,
whom she favours. When she is not persuaded, he threatens her with
"the authority of a guardian". She goes, and Lady Teazle enters asking
her husband for two hundred pounds. Sir Peter and Lady Teazle argue
again, and conclude that they should separate.

Scene II: Sir Oliver (as Mr. Premium) arrives with Moses at Charles'
house. While they are waiting in the hall, Trip, the servant, tries to
negotiate a loan on his own account from Moses. Sir Oliver concludes
that "this is the temple of dissipation indeed!"

Scene III: Charles and his raucous guests drink heavily and sing merry
songs, as they prepare for a night of gambling. Charles raises a toast
to Maria. Moses and "Premium" enter, and Sir Oliver is dismayed at the
scene. Charles does not recognise his long-lost uncle. Charles frankly
asks "Premium" for credit, noting that Sir Oliver (whom he believes is
in India) will soon leave him a fortune. "Premium" discounts this
possibility, noting that Sir Oliver could live many years, or
disinherit his nephew. He asks if Charles has any valuables of his own
to sell for immediate cash. Charles admits that he has sold the family
silver and his late father's library, and offers to sell "Premium" the
family portrait collection. "Premium" accepts, but Sir Oliver is
silently outraged.

Act IV
========
Scene I: Charles goes on to sell all of the family portraits to
"Premium", using the rolled-up family tree as a gavel. However, he
refuses to sell the last portrait, which is of Sir Oliver, out of
respect for his benefactor; Charles will not sell it even when
"Premium" offers as much for it as for all the rest. Moved, Sir Oliver
inwardly forgives Charles. Sir Oliver and Moses leave with Rowley
entering shortly after, and Charles sends a hundred pounds of the
proceeds for the relief of "Mr. Stanley", despite Rowley's objection.

Scene II: Sir Oliver, reflecting on Charles's character with Moses, is
met by Rowley, who has brought him the hundred pounds sent to
"Stanley." Declaring "I’ll pay his debts, and his benevolence too",
Sir Oliver plans to go meet his other nephew in the person of Stanley.

Scene III: Joseph, anxiously awaiting a visit from Lady Teazle, is
told by a servant that she has just left "her chair at the milliner's
next door" and so has the servant draw a screen across the window (his
reason: "my opposite neighbour is a maiden lady of so curious a
temper"). On her entrance, Joseph forswears any interest in Maria, and
flirts in earnest with Lady Teazle, perversely suggesting that she
should make a "'faux pas'" for the benefit of her reputation. The
servant returns to announce Sir Peter, and Lady Teazle hides in panic
behind the screen. Sir Peter enters and tells Joseph that he suspects
an affair between Charles and Lady Teazle (due to the rumours spread
by Joseph and Lady Sneerwell). Joseph hypocritically professes
confidence in Charles' and Lady Teazle's honour. Sir Peter confides
his intention to give his wife a generous separate maintenance during
his life and the bulk of his fortune on his demise. He also urges
Joseph to pursue his suit with Maria (much to Joseph's annoyance, as
Lady Teazle is listening behind the screen).

Charles's arrival is announced. Sir Peter decides to hide, and have
Joseph sound Charles out about his relationship with Lady Teazle. He
starts behind the screen, but sees the corner of Lady Teazle's
petticoat there already. Joseph "confesses" that he is not as virtuous
as he seems: "a little French milliner, a silly rogue that plagues me"
is hiding there to preserve her own reputation. Sir Peter then hides
in the closet.

Charles now enters and Joseph questions him about Lady Teazle. Charles
disclaims any designs on her, noting that Joseph and the lady seem to
be intimate. To stop Charles, Joseph whispers to him that Sir Peter is
hiding in the closet, and Charles hauls him forth. Sir Peter tells
Charles he now regrets his suspicions about him. Charles passes off
his comments about Joseph and Lady Teazle as a joke.

When Lady Sneerwell is announced, Joseph rushes out to stop her from
coming up. Meanwhile, Sir Peter tells Charles about the "French
milliner". Charles insists on having a look at her and flings down the
screen as Joseph returns, discovering Lady Teazle. Charles, very
amused, leaves the other three dumbstruck individuals. Joseph concocts
an explanation for Sir Peter of why he and Lady Teazle are together.
But she refuses to endorse it and admits that she came to pursue an
affair with Joseph; however, having learned of Sir Peter's generosity,
she has repented. She denounces Joseph and exits, and the enraged Sir
Peter follows as Joseph continues trying to pretend innocence.

Act V
=======
Scene I: Sir Oliver (as Mr. Stanley) now visits Joseph. Joseph, like
Charles, does not recognise his long-lost uncle. He greets "Stanley"
with effusive professions of goodwill, but refuses to give "Stanley"
any financial assistance, saying he has donated all his money to
support Charles. "Stanley" suggests that Sir Oliver would help him if
he was here, and that Joseph might pass on some of what Sir Oliver has
given him. But Joseph tells "Stanley" that Sir Oliver is in fact very
stingy, and has given him nothing except trinkets such as tea, shawls,
birds and "Indian crackers". Furthermore, Joseph has lent a great deal
to his brother, so that he has nothing left for "Stanley". Sir Oliver
is enraged, as he knows both statements are flat lies - he sent Joseph
12,000 pounds from India. He stifles his anger, and departs amid
further effusions. Rowley arrives with a letter for Joseph announcing
that Sir Oliver has arrived in town.

Scene II: At Sir Peter's house, Lady Sneerwell, Mrs. Candour, Sir
Benjamin, and Crabtree exchange confused rumours about the Teazle
affair. Sir Benjamin says Sir Peter was wounded in a swordfight with
Joseph Surface, while Crabtree insists it was a pistol duel with
Charles. When Sir Oliver enters, they take him for a doctor and demand
news of the wounded man. At that moment Sir Peter arrives to prove the
report wrong, and orders the scandalmongers out of his house, with
Rowley entering shortly after at hearing Sir Peter's raised voice. Sir
Oliver says he has met both of his nephews and agrees with Sir Peter's
(former) estimate of Joseph's high character, but then acknowledges
with laughter that he knows the story of what happened at Joseph's
with the closet and screen. When he leaves, Rowley tells Sir Peter
that Lady Teazle is in tears in the next room, and Sir Peter goes to
reconcile with her.

Scene III: Lady Sneerwell complains to Joseph that Sir Peter, now that
he knows the truth about Joseph, will allow Charles to marry Maria.
They plot to use Snake as a witness to a supposed relationship between
Charles and Lady Sneerwell, and she withdraws.

Sir Oliver arrives. Joseph takes him for "Stanley" and orders him out.
Charles arrives and recognises "Premium". Despite the identity
confusion, both brothers want the man out before Sir Oliver comes. As
Charles and Joseph try to eject their incognito uncle, Sir Peter and
Lady Teazle arrive with Maria and Rowley, ending Sir Oliver's
pretence. Sir Oliver, Sir Peter, and Lady Teazle together condemn
Joseph, but Sir Oliver forgives Charles because of his refusal to sell
Sir Oliver's picture and his generous aid to his uncle "Stanley".
Maria, however, declines to give Charles her hand, citing his supposed
involvement with Lady Sneerwell. Joseph now reveals Lady Sneerwell.
Charles is baffled, and Rowley then summons Snake. Snake, however, has
been bribed to turn against Sneerwell, so her lie is exposed. After
Lady Teazle tells her that she (Lady Teazle) is withdrawing from the
School for Scandal, Lady Sneerwell leaves in a rage, and Joseph
follows, supposedly to keep her from further malicious attacks.
Charles and Maria are reconciled. Charles makes no promises about
reforming, but indicates that Maria's influence will keep him on a
"virtuous path". The concluding line assures the audience that "even
Scandal dies, if you approve."

Epilogue
==========
The humorous epilogue, written by George Colman the Elder, is to be
"Spoken by Lady Teazle." It portrays her as somewhat regretful of
leaving country domesticity for London society, and includes an
elaborate parody of a famous speech in Shakespeare's 'Othello.'

Revisions and variant versions
======================================================================
Various editions of the play exhibit several relatively minor textual
differences. One reason is that Sheridan revised his text repeatedly,
not only prior to its first production, but afterwards.

In its earliest stages, as detailed by Thomas Moore, Sheridan
developed two separate play sketches, one initially entitled "The
Slanderers" that began with Lady Sneerwell and Spatter (equivalent to
Snake in the final version), and the other involving the Teazles. He
eventually combined these and with repeated revisions and
restructuring arrived at substantially the play that we have today.

The play did not appear in an authorised edition during Sheridan's
lifetime, though it was printed in Dublin in 1788 from a copy that the
author had sent to his sister.

Because, as one recent editor has put it, "'The School for Scandal' is
the most intractable problem Sheridan set his editors", editions of
this play can vary considerably. For example, the Penguin Classics
edition gives a text based on the 1821 edition of 'The Works of the
Late Right Honourable Richard Brinsley Sheridan' published by Murray,
Ridgeway, and Wilkie, but states that it has "been emended from
earlier manuscripts" and gives a detailed listing of these
emendations.

The prefatory material to the Project Gutenberg text of the play
acknowledges that "Current texts may usually be traced, directly or
indirectly", to the 1821 edition, but presents a far different text
based on a manuscript in the author's hand.

In the Project Gutenberg text's version of I.1, Lady Sneerwell's
accomplice is her cousin Miss Verjuice, not the socially inferior
Snake (who appears only in V.3). Here is the opening of the play as
given in that text (in which the editor has retained the original
spelling and punctuation of Sheridan's manuscript found at Frampton
Court):

'LADY SNEERWELL at her dressing table with LAPPET; MISS VERJUICE
drinking chocolate'
LADY SNEERWELL. The Paragraphs you say were all inserted:
VERJUICE. They were Madam--and as I copied them myself in a feigned
Hand there can be no suspicion whence they came.
LADY SNEERWELL. Did you circulate the Report of Lady Brittle's
Intrigue with Captain Boastall?
VERJUICE. Madam by this Time Lady Brittle is the Talk of half the
Town--and I doubt not in a week the Men will toast her as a Demirep.
LADY SNEERWELL. What have you done as to the insinuation as to a
certain Baronet's Lady and a certain Cook.
VERJUICE. That is in as fine a Train as your Ladyship could wish. I
told the story yesterday to my own maid with directions to communicate
it directly to my Hairdresser. He I am informed has a Brother who
courts a Milliners' Prentice in Pallmall whose mistress has a first
cousin whose sister is Feme [Femme] de Chambre to Mrs. Clackit--so
that in the common course of Things it must reach Mrs. Clackit's Ears
within four-and-twenty hours and then you know the Business is as good
as done.

Sheridan later deleted Verjuice and gave Snake most of her lines, as
reflected in the 1821 edition and those editions that follow it. Here
is the opening in that text:

'Lady SNEERWELL'S House.'
'Discovered Lady SNEERWELL at the dressing-table; SNAKE drinking
chocolate.'
'Lady Sneer.' The paragraphs, you say, Mr. Snake, were all inserted?
'Snake.' They were, madam; and as I copied them myself in a feigned
hand, there can be no suspicion whence they came.
'Lady Sneer.' Did you circulate the report of Lady Brittle's intrigue
with Captain Boastall?
'Snake.' That's in as fine a train as your ladyship could wish. In the
common course of things, I think it must reach Mrs. Clackitt's ears
within four and twenty hours; and then, you know, the business is as
good as done.

This is a significant difference, and some editors and performers have
preferred the manuscript version that includes Miss Verjuice. However,
the cast list of the first production of the play in 1777 has no "Miss
Verjuice" listed, showing that the change Sheridan made to combine her
part with Snake's predates the premiere.

Another example of strictly verbal differences between the two texts
can be found in II.1, where the Project Gutenberg text has Lady Teazle
rather more pointed in suggesting that Sir Peter can oblige her by
making her his "widow" (only implied by her in the 1821 text, leaving
him to fill in "My widow, I suppose?" and her to add "Hem! hem!").
Also, in Crabtree's recitation of the imaginary duel between Sir Peter
and Charles Surface (V.2), the shot of Sir Peter bounces off a "little
bronze Pliny" in the older version, but the bust is changed to one of
"Shakspeare (sic)" in the 1821 text. Many other slight differences of
a few words here and there can be found throughout the play (though
these do not impact the plot the way that the deletion of Miss
Verjuice does).

Reception
======================================================================
'The School for Scandal' has been widely admired. The English critic
William Hazlitt was particularly effusive in his praise of Sheridan's
comedies in general ("everything in them 'tells'; there is no labour
in vain") and of this play in particular:

Edmund Gosse called the play "perhaps the best existing English comedy
of intrigue", while Charles Lamb wrote that "This comedy grew out of
Congreve and Wycherley", but criticised "sentimental
incompatibilities" even while admitting that "the gaiety upon the
whole is buoyant."

Samuel Barber composed his first full orchestral work as an overture
programmed for the play.

On the other hand, the play has also been criticised for some hints of
anti-Semitism, specifically "the disparaging remarks made about
moneylenders, who were often Jewish." It is true that the moneylender
Moses is portrayed in a comparatively positive light, but the way he
is described (as a "friendly Jew" and an "honest Israelite" by Rowley
in III.1) suggest that he is in some way to be considered an exception
to Jews in general; also, his own usurious business practices as
stated to Sir Peter are clearly less than exemplary (e.g., his
statement "If he appears not very anxious for the supply, you should
require only forty or fifty per cent; but if you find him in great
distress, and want the moneys very bad, you may ask double" [III.1]).
It may be significant that in Johann Zoffany's portrait of Robert
Baddeley as Moses, we find that "Under his arm Moses holds a rolled
parchment of the Surface family tree that is used as an auction
hammer, and he seems to be ticking off pictures in the catalogue",
although in the play Careless is the auctioneer in the relevant scene
(IV.1) and Moses has a relatively minor role.

It is notable that at least one 21st-century production (Los Angeles,
2004) has "sanitized most of what could be deemed as anti-Semitic
content" by changing references to "Jews" and "Jewry" to
"moneylenders"--a practice that a reviewer termed "PC-ification" of
the play. Another production, by the Seattle Shakespeare Company in
2007, reportedly did not tamper with this aspect of the text and was
commended by a reviewer for "the courage to face the script's unsavory
side."

Another criticism that has been made of the play involves the
characterisation. A writer in the 19th century periodical 'Appletons'
Journal' states that

The style of the play has also made it at times a problematic work to
make effective in today's theatre. In appraising a 1999 staging of
Sheridan's comedy at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, Minnesota,
one critic found the "staunchly orthodox production" to be lacking,
commenting that

Another reviewer in 'Variety' noted of a 1995 production starring Tony
Randall as Sir Peter Teazle that Sheridan's play was "such a superbly
crafted laugh machine, and so timeless in delivering delectable
comeuppance to a viper's nest of idle-rich gossipmongers, that you'd
practically have to club it to death to stifle its amazing pleasures"
- before claiming that this is 'precisely' what the production being
reviewed had done.

But in the hands of a talented director and cast, the play still
offers considerable pleasure. A New York production of 2001 prompted
praise in 'The New York Times' for being "just the classy antidote one
needs in a celebrity-crazed world where the invasion of privacy is out
of control, but the art of gossip is nonexistent."

Film and television adaptations
======================================================================
The play has been adapted to film numerous times.

In 1923, the silent British film 'The School for Scandal' was produced
and directed by Bertram Phillips. It starred Basil Rathbone, Frank
Stanmore and Queenie Thomas.

The 1930 film 'The School for Scandal' was the first sound adaptation
of the play. The film is presumed to be lost.

The first television adaptation aired over the BBC 19 May 1937. Greer
Garson starred. BBC-TV again produced the play in 1959.

In 1975, WNET/13 New York, in association with KTCA St.
Paul-Minneapolis, broadcast a production by the Guthrie Theater
adapted by Michael Bawtree.

Original actors
======================================================================
These appeared in "The School for Scandal" 8 May 1777 at The Drury
Lane Theatre in London
*John Palmer - as Joseph Surface
*Frances Abington - as Lady Teazle
*William 'Gentleman' Smith - as Charles Surface
*Jane Pope - as Mrs Candour

Later notable actors
======================================================================
*It is recorded that Jane Austen, who was said to be a fine actor, had
played the part of Mrs Candour in 1812 in a private production with
great aplomb.
*The 1975 PBS Great Performances video directed by Michael Langham and
Nich Havinga (made from the production at the Tyrone Guthrie Theatre
the previous year) featured Larry Gates as Sir Oliver Surface, Kenneth
Welsh as Charles Surface, Bernard Behrens as Sir Peter Teazle,
Patricia Conolly as Lady Sneerwell, Ivar Brogger as Snake, Barbara
Bryne as Mrs. Candour, Mark Lamos as Sir Benjamin Backbite, and Blair
Brown as Lady Teazle.
*John Gielgud played Charles Surface in a legendary season at the
Queens Theatre in 1937 and repeated the role under his own direction
in a 1963 Broadway production.
* Real life couple Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh played Sir Peter
and Lady Teazle in a production of the play at the New Theatre as part
of The Old Vic Company. The production also starred Peter Cushing and
Terence Morgan.
*Donald Sinden as Sir Peter Teazle, Marc Sinden as Charles Surface,
Googie Withers as Lady Sneerwell, directed by John Barton, Haymarket
Theatre (transferred to the Duke of York's Theatre) in 1983 and then
was chosen as the British Council's 50th anniversary tour of Europe in
1984.

External links
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*
*
*
*[http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/m/manuscript-for-the-school-for-scandal-by-richard-brinsley-sheridan/
Manuscript for 'The School For Scandal'] at the Victoria and Albert
Museum
*[http://www.barbican.org.uk/scandal/media/teaching_resource.pdf
Teaching resource for 'The School for Scandal'] at the Barbican
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmqWX0jPFo4 Audio performance with
John Gielgud and Ralph Richardson (1963)]
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBbSIqOL2Yw Video performance from
Guthrie Theater, Minneapolis (1976)]

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=========
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Original Article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_School_for_Scandal