Reviewed by James Karas
Richard Brinsley
Sheridan took no hostages in his brilliant satire of upper crust society in
late 18th century England. His 1777 masterpiece, The
School for Scandal skewered scandal mongering, hypocrisy and
shallowness but allowed decency and fidelity to triumph.
Antoni
Cimolino, the Stratford Festival’s Artistic Director assigned directorial
duties for the production to himself and the result is highly commendable with
some reservations.
Members of the company in The School for Scandal. Photography by
Cylla von Tiedemann.
The play
has twenty-one roles plus “servants and maids” which add up to a hefty cast.
The festival’s boss seems to have had no trouble recruiting the best actors in town.
Look at the names that Sheridan gives to some of his characters to get the
flavour of the play: Lady Sneerwell, Snake, Mrs. Candour, Crabtree, Sir
Benjamin Backbite and Careless.
Maev Beaty
as Lady Sneerwell with her cohort Snake (Anusree Roy) and Mrs. Candour (Brigit Wilson) are a veritable wrecking crew
of lives, reputations, marriages and engagements using that most delicate of
instruments the spread of false news or innuendo.
The old
bachelor Sir Peter Teazle (Geraint Wyn Davies) married the lovely young country
girl Lady Teazle (Shannon Taylor) who turns out to be a wastrel. The seemingly
virtuous Sir Charles Surface (Sébastien Heins) mounts an assault on her
fidelity and …well, will he succeed? The rumour mills are working in full gear.
Charles is
also after the wealthy Maria (Monica Peter) who is pursued by his apparently
profligate squanderer of a brother named Joseph (Tyrone Savage). They are
living from the generosity of their uncle Sir Oliver (Joseph Ziegler) who is
arriving incognito to check on his nephews.
And that’s
just the beginning. We have the foppish Sir Benjamin of Tom Rooney, Brent Carver
as Rowly and the marvelous Rod Beattie as Crabtree.
The play
is thickly plotted and its 18th century wit and colourful language
require a light touch and in a perfect world an upper crust English accent. The
verbal comedy may suffer a bit from this lack but the farcical comedy comes out
splendidly. Lady Teazle is in Charles’ apartment and she hides behind a screen
when her husband arrives. She is finally and hilariously discovered by her
husband and a desperate Sir Oliver.
Shannon Taylor as Lady
Teazle and Geraint Wyn Davies as Sir Peter Teazle. Photography by Cylla von Tiedemann.
Sir Oliver
tests his nephews’ characters by asking one for financial assistance and being
roundly rebuffed. He attends the sale of his paintings by the other nephew who
is willing to sell everything except Sir Oliver’s portrait.
The plot
strands of May-December marriage of Sir Peter and the revelation of the
incognito visitor as Sir Oliver will merge amid the backbiting of the ladies in
the rumor mill and all will be resolved.
With
actors like Maev Beaty, Geraint Wyn Davies, Rod Beattie, Tyrone Savage,
Sébastien Heins, Shannon Taylor, Brent Carver, Joseph Ziegler and Tom Rooney
(listed in no particular order), there should have been a much more
enthusiastic reception. The audience on the day I saw it (June 6) was fairly
unresponsive during the first half but the laughter picked up greatly in the
second half.
Designer
Julie Fox gave us a lavish set and marvelous costumes. Nick Bottomley designed
the projection of images and indications of place that gave the performance
additional movement.
A fine
production that has all the ingredients for a resounding success but lacked the
necessary spark to ignite the audience.
_____________
The School for Scandal by Richard Brinsley Sheridan opened
on June 3 and will run until October 21, 2017 at the Avon Theatre, 99 Downie
St. Stratford, ON N5A 1X2. www.stratfordfestival.ca
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