Much to the chagrin of those who work on it, eighteenth-century theatre is not a popular choice for staging today. If an eighteenth-century play is chosen for staging, the odds are high that it will be School for Scandal (indeed, there was a touring production of School for Scandal earlier this year, reviewed here by Matthew McCormack). Richard Brinsley Sheridan’s 1777 comedy is one of the few plays from the period in the modern repertory, but it nevertheless presents challenges for those who set out to stage it. The language and references are unfamiliar, and both cast and audience need to understand what’s going on. Then, many scholars of this period will tell you that characters in eighteenth-century drama are two-dimensional, more archetypes than real characters, and that’s not what audiences today go to see (I disagree with this view of eighteenth-century drama, as I argue in my doctoral thesis, and it’s a pleasure to see productions that refute that). And, finally, anyone putting on these plays must grapple with the racist and colonialist mindsets that underpinned their writing and performance. In the Royal Shakespeare Company’s production, director Tinuke Craig and dramaturg Jude Christian deliver a masterclass on how to handle these challenges and make great theatre out of them.
The production is immediately attention-grabbing. The costumes are in a vibrant palette of pinks, and offer a confident, stylishly modern twist on the eighteenth century in a way that reminded me of Milena Canonero’s Oscar-winning designs for Marie Antoinette (dir. Sofia Coppola), which School for Scandal’s costume designer Alex Lowde mentions in the programme. The costumes reflect both careful research and a confidence to make something new from that historical knowledge. That, indeed, was my sense of the whole production: the cast and crew understand School for Scandal so well, that they can adapt the play with assurance, supported by their knowledge.
School for Scandal is a satire on gossipy high society. The chief fabricator and disseminator of reputation-damaging rumours is Lady Sneerwell, a potentially captivating villain who can all too easily lack substance: her dirty dealings present a barrier to the heroes’ happiness, but audiences usually want a character to be more than just a plot point with some funny dialogue. In the RSC’s School for Scandal, however, Siubhan Harrison’s eye-catching and syrupy Lady Sneerwell enters before the play even begins to deliver a prologue which neatly connects the play’s themes to present-day political corruption and love of gossip. Though this is not the text of the play, it does reflect how the play would have been performed in its own time: plays were always preceded by a prologue, usually spoken by one of the cast. More than just bridging 250 years of history, the prologue introduces the audience to Lady Sneerwell before the action begins. We enter the play’s first scene with a pre-existing relationship with this manipulative but magnetic character. Indeed, this Lady Sneerwell had a depth I’ve rarely seen in the character: Harrison brought out a fragility and insecurity hiding beneath the scheming that I’ve never seen before, making her villainy all the more compelling.
This whole production gratifyingly proved the point that onstage these characters do have depth. It’s something we’re used to seeing with Shakespeare, but so often eighteenth-century theatre isn’t credited with the same psychological complexity; it is a delight that the RSC seem to recognise that their namesake was not the sole creator of character depth prior to the nineteenth century. Stefan Adegbola’s Joseph Surface, a self-serving villain who has managed to pass himself off as an unfailingly moral man, is smooth but grasping, a pitch-perfect villain you love to hate. John Leader plays Joseph’s brother Charles Surface as a flamboyant outsider who sees through some elements of his brother’s performance and pokes fun at them. As for the ageing Sir Peter Teazle (Geoffrey Streatfeild) and his much younger wife (Tara Tijani), this was the first time I’ve seen them performed from the start as so besotted with one another: they’re a couple who are deeply in love but a little unnerved by the fact, two big personalities trying to live together. They get a thrill out of arguing but have yet to work out where the lines are. Tijani’s Lady Teazle is broken-hearted when, in the heat of conflict, Sir Peter suggests a divorce, believing it’s what she wants. Taking note from the plot, this staging understands the need to see what’s beyond the ‘Surface’ of a character.
Staging School for Scandal now, there are two major issues in the text that a production needs to decide how to approach: the anti-Semitic portrayal of Jewish moneylender Moses, and the fact that Sir Oliver Surface (Wil Johnson), uncle to Charles and Joseph, made his fortune in the East Indies. The first of these issues was resolved by removing the anti-Semitic content, and instead creating the character of ‘Morehouse’ (Shazia Nicholls) to take over the moneylender role as a smartly-dressed and ruthless businesswoman. For the second issue, the production again leaned into its deep understanding of the play and comfort in adding material that made it work all the better: every time Sir Oliver’s fortune was mentioned, characters would quickly emphasise that he ‘worked very hard’ and ‘paid a fair wage’, and redirected any mention of the East India Company to a more ambiguous framing of Sir Oliver’s ‘travels’. This all too familiar euphemistic misdirection raised laughs from the audience, and created a commentary both on the original play and modern society, without shifting the play away from being a comedy; it was masterfully done.
I hope that more theatre companies take note of what the RSC has done with this production: I would love for it to spark more smart, confident, and above all, hilarious eighteenth-century revivals. But for now, don your most flamboyant outfits, think of your juiciest bit of gossip, and get yourself to Stratford-upon-Avon to see this wonderful production while it’s still on!
The School for Scandal is on at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre until 6th September 2024.