School for Scandal: Richard Brinsley Sheridan, RSC at RST, Stratford Upon Avon, until 22 August 2024, 4✩✩✩✩. Review: Rod Dungate

Photo Credit: Marc Brenner.

School for Scandal: Richard Brindley Sheridan

RSC at RST, Stratford Upon Avon

Runs 3 hours, one interval, ‘till 22August 2024

Review: Rod Dungate, AD Performance, 20 July 2024

 4✩✩✩✩

“Intelligent, witty, funny, flawed (but not fatally).”

Restoration plays are among the most difficult plays to bring off successfully. Their elaborate balanced language, mostly unlikeable characters, and a message which belies the action render them tricky to empathise with. Hence Sheridan’s moralising at the play’s conclusion appears hypocritical set against the feeling of celebration of gossip and intrigue (sexual and social).

Tinuke Craig’s production is vigorously paced with flow; excellent touches like characters emerging from and disappearing into shadow. The use of a trapdoor for entrances and exits (sets by Alex Lowde) is inspired. It is fun in its own right, but it implies that in this world nobody is safe, people working against you can appear from nowhere.

The production is flawed however, we have no single person to take us on a journey. Joseph Surface (honest and good in appearance, tricky bastard in private) is not the obvious choice for protagonist, but protagonist he is. Which means that we must enjoy with him his wickedness, safe in the knowledge this is a play. Stefan Adegbola’s performance is accurate and well thought-through, but he does not welcome us in, we cannot become complicit in his naughtiness. I feel, too, that in playing the style he has not kept his feet in touch with the ground; much humour is sacrificed. This is also true of other Society characters.

Not so with Siubhan Harrison’s Lady Sneerwell who is a successful mixture of dramatic truth and moral falsity. Snake (Tadeo Martinez) the most outrageous of characters, also chieves this, what a delightful performance!

Geoffrey Streatfeild as Sir Peter Teasel carries us along as the beleaguered married man. His complex sub-plot with Premium et al is marched along with great aplomb.

With Scandal’s finely tuned language so much to the fore I do wonder if this production would have been much better placed in the intimate space of The Swan. Notwithstanding this, the production is great fun and reminds us little has changed from the back-biting world; it is just that now it is carried out on Facebook, WhatsApp, X and an increasing number of on-line spaces.

Cast

Joseph Surface – Stefan Adegbola

Lappet – Jessica Alade

Careless – Omar Bynon

Rowley – John Dougal

Bill – Riess Fennell

Lady Sneerwell – Siubhan Harrison

Mrs Candour – Emily Houghton

Sir Oliver Surface – Wil Johnson

Moppet – Yasemin Junqueira

Trip – David Mara

Snake – Tadeo Martinez

Morehouse – Shazia Nicholls

Maria – Yasemin Özdemir

Sir Harry Bumper – David Partridge

Sire Peter Teazle – Goeffrey Streatfeild

Crabtree – Jason Thorpe

Lady Teazle – Tara Tijani

Sir Benjamin Backbite – Patrick Walshe McBride

Creatives

Director – Tinuke Craig

Sets & Costumes – Alex Lowde

Lighting – Oliver Fenwick

Composer – D. J. Walde

Sound – Max Pappenheim

Audio Describers – Julia Grundy & Ellie Packer