Everyone loves a good scandal and this is probably why Sheridans most famous play has stood the test of the time for the last two hundred and thirty years. Here, the Red Handed Theatre Company bring a lunchtime version lasting but fifty minutes to the stage of the Bridewell Theatre, just off Fleet Street (a place where scandal once had a natural home). It is a testament to how well they have extracted the essence and soul of Sheridans masterpiece that one can scarcely remember what they have had to leave out.
This is a gem of a production, a box of gorgeous delights which should satisfy any lunchtime playgoer, and a perfect antidote to the January blues.. From Lady Sneerwells majestic entrance, to the comic climax where Sir Peters young wife is uncovered hiding behind the screen in virtuous Joseph Surfaces apartment, one is swept along in the intrigue. As this is so clearly an ensemble piece it would be unfair to single out any member of the cast - and difficult too. In this glittering social comedy of manners, ripostes are cast around by each member of the supremely talented company with witty abandon as though they had been doing it all their lives. The vicious back-biting world of the eighteenth century, where cheats and fraudsters abound, is not dissimilar to our own, and is captured well here.
Directed with flare and style by Jessica Swale, and with nothing spared in the way of sumptuous eighteenth century costume, this version of School for Scandal is beautiful to look at, as well as being enormous fun. I cant think of a better way of spending a lunch hour in the city.
