School for Scandal

In "The School for Scandal", Sheridan's artificial world of heightened wit and heightened folly delights its audience, but at times it engages them with moments of human pain and happiness, before delivering them back to its comedy.
This classic comedy of manners portrays intrigue, gossip, and social climbing among the leisure class of 1770s London and explores the deceptive guises of society and fickle nature of reputations.Middle-aged and a wealthy bachelor, Sir Peter Teazle marries a young and beautiful daughter of a country squire. The “School for Scandal” socialites fill their days with the dissemination of malicious gossip with the consequences of destroyed reputations and marriages held out as pure entertainment. Lady Teazle is welcomed to their circle by becoming the object of nasty rumors and suggestions of an adulterous affair.Playwright Sheridan skewers the London elite in this clever farce as he reveals the hypocrisy behind the human tendency to gossip and deceive. The play was an enormous success during its first staging in 1777 and credited as a "real comedy" in contrast to the sentimental dramas that dominated the stage at the time.Sheridan’s witty dialogue rivals that of the Restoration’s best playwrights, and his character names are aptly outrageous: Lady Sneerwell, Mrs. Candour, Benjamin Backbite and Mrs. Malaprop.This edition also includes an article by Dr. David Cross on The School of Scandal’s original staging and performance requirements.
This is an updated edition of Richard Brinsley Sheridan's play, The School for Scandal. It also contains an article written by Dr. David Crane on the original staging, arguing that knowledge of staging and performance requirements is important to an understanding of the play.