The School for Scandal

The School for Scandal by Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751 – 1816).

The original text
Considered to be one of the greatest comedies of manners in the English language, the play was first performed in London at Drury Lane Theatre on 8 May 1777.

Performance history in South Africa
1818: Done in South Africa by the Gentlemen Amateurs in the African Theatre, Cape Town on 27 June 1818, with the help of Mr Cooke and his company of ladies. The afterpiece was given as Carey's burlesque Chrononhotonthologos.

1873: Performed on board ship, en route to Cape Town, by Disney Roebuck's company, with To Oblige Benson, as a benefit for the "Cape Town Dispensary".

1929: It was one of the plays performed by a West End theatre company from London, led by actor-manager Gerald Lawrence, which toured South Africa and Rhodesia, putting on a portfolio of five plays. The tour played in venues owned by African Theatres Ltd. and started in Johannesburg on 1st April 1929 and finished in Cape Town on 3rd October.

1945: Produced by Minna Millsten for the UCT Dramatic Society, Little Theatre, 1945. With Richard Buncher, Sybil Dee, Philip Segal, Anthony Robinson, John Juritz, Audrey Pearce, Godfrey Isaacs, Blake Pinnel, Nell Reeve, Anthony Hodgson. Sets by Basil Warner.

1958: Produced for National Theatre Organisation in 1958 by Leon Gluckman with a distinguished cast, including Margaret Inglis, Pieter Geldenhuys, Frank Wise and Siegfried Mynhardt. Costumes by Frank and Doreen Graves. Joyce Grant, as Mrs. Candour, Zoe Randall, as Lady Sneerwell, and David Beattie, as Sir Benjamin Mackbite.

1969: Performed at the Hofmeyr Theatre, opening on 4 March 1969. Directed by Roy Sargeant, with décor and costumes designed by Keith Anderson. The cast included Philip Birkinshaw, Elliot Playfair, Bernard Brown, David Goatham, Lyn Hooker, Zoë Randall, Yvonne Bryceland, Wilson Dunster, Ralph Lawson, Roger Dwyer, Ken Leach, Pietro Nolte, Alan Prior, Will Bernard, John Ramsbottom, Gillian Garlick, Joey Wishnia, Glynn Day, Brian Kennedy, Gaenor Becker, Gordon Sara, Lorna Robertson.

1980: Produced by PACT, directed by Roy Sargeant during the National Arts Festival with Bobby Heaney, Richard Haines, Erica Rogers, John Hussey and Margaret Heale amongst others in the cast.

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