The School for Scandal

The School for Scandal by Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751 – 1816)[1].

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 (Lemoine-Moreau and Delacour/Taylor), as a benefit for the "Cape Town Dispensary".

1875: Performed by the Disney Roebuck and his company in the Bijou Theatre, Cape Town, on 21 April, with Slasher and Crasher (Morton) as afterpiece. Miss Berenger played "Lady Teazle", Bessie Cranston "Lady Sneerwell" and Bessie Palmer "Mrs Candour" in Sheridan's play.

1875: Performed by the Disney Roebuck and his company in the Bijou Theatre, Cape Town, on 30 April.

1875: Performed by the Disney Roebuck and his company in the Bijou Theatre, Cape Town, on 28 May, with Hercules, King of Clubs (Cooper) as afterpiece.

1875: Performed by the Disney Roebuck and his company in the Bijou Theatre, Cape Town, on 7 September, with The Kiss in the Dark (Buckstone) as afterpiece.

1876: Performed by the Disney Roebuck and his company in the Theatre Royal, Burg Street, Cape Town, on 10 May.

1877: Performed by the Disney Roebuck and his company in the Theatre Royal, Cape Town, on 8 October, with Ici on Parle Français (Willaims) as afterpiece. The evening a benefit for E.V. Sinclair and Maude Clifford.

1895-6: Performed by the Holloway Theatre Company, under the auspices of the Wheeler Theatre Company theatre company as part of a season of plays which opened in the Standard Theatre, Johannesburg on the 26th December with Othello. The company was composed of William J. Holloway, Leonard Rayne, Gerald Lawrence, Amy Grace, John Nesbitt, William Haviland and Amy Coleridge. The company also played other cities, including the Opera House, Cape Town, for a season that opened in May 1896.

1901-2: Performed by a company featuring Nance O'Neill as part of a season of plays put on at the Good Hope Theatre, Cape Town, under the management of the Wheeler Brothers in in September, 1901 and February, 1902.

1907: Performed by a company featuring Cora Brown-Potter as part of a short season of plays put on in June, under the management of the Wheeler Brothers.

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.

1952: Produced by Evelyn Shapiro for the Pretoria Amateur Dramatic Society from 5 to 9 February. Jack Kennedy and Lilly Silverberrg played the parts of the quarrelsome Teazels while Jack Lloyd, John Templer and Richard Cutler played the Surface family.

1958: Produced for National Theatre Organisation in 1958 by Leon Gluckman with a distinguished cast, including Margaret Inglis (Lady Teazle), Pieter Geldenhuys (Sir Peter), Frank Wise, Siegfried Mynhardt, Nigel Hawthorne, Brian Proudfoot, David Laughton, Pamela Borain, Robert Del Kyrke, David Herbert, Yvonne Dur, Gerald Schuller, Joyce Grant, as Mrs. Candour, Zoe Randall, as Lady Sneerwell, and David Beattie, as Sir Benjamin Mackbite. Costumes by Frank and Doreen Graves.

1962: Presented as the opening production for the Guild Theatre, directed by Mary Howe, with Lynette Alexander as Lady Sneerwell and Bill Sloper as Sir Peter Teazle.

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.