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THESCHOOLFORSCANDA by Richard Brinsley Sheridan

Gordon Neagle discusses his production for the Street Theatre, at the Strode Theatre, Street.

The Street Theatre was founded in Decembt'r 1995 i1l1d although the three productions we present each year have' bccn of a vcry vvide appeal to both nwmbers and audience Shakespeare to Ayckbourn and many between - not surprisingly there had never been a period costume play produced.

In January 1999 the 400-seat Strode Theatre completed a million pound (lottery grant assisted) improvement to facilities throughout the theatre, so it was felt that our first production with these facilities could be slightly off-line from our normal choice, especially as publicity surrounding amateur theatre budgetary considerations is very much to the fore. With this in mind the company backed my request to direct Til e Scllool for SCalldlll.

So where does Sheridan fit in English literature? Neatly between the Restoration and Regency periods. Also, by chance, the American and french Revolutions, a tilne \·vhen many changes \vere taking place in the world, 'let alone the theatre. In an effort to clean up the b,ld reputation that had built up in the playhouses of the early 18th Century, as places of disrepute and iniquity, there were only two licensed playhouses in London in 1770, Drury Lane and Covent Carden. Sheridan became sole owner of Drury Lane in 1776, having purchased David Carrick's ha If share the year befon:'.

The brittle wit of Restoration gave way to laborious tragedies and sentimental comedies. She ridan seized on the sensibility and sentiment of the changing times, placing feelings, love and friendship above cold- mannered formality. It was against this background that I set about creating the playas it was written and staged in 1777.

The action of the play takes place in one day, in the spring of 1777, in the house of Lady Sneerwell, Sir Peter Teazle, Charles Surface and Joseph Surface.

Lady Sneerwell is the centre of a network of scandalmongers. She is in league with Joseph Surface, who is pursuing Sir Peter Teazle's ward, Maria, for her fortune. Lady Sneerwell has her sights set on Charles, Joseph's younger brother.

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Charles and Maria are in love.

According to socie ty gossip, Joseph and Cha'rles are very differen t. Joseph is admired as upright and moral while Charles spe nds his money almost before he has it and has Ill~ prospects.

Sir Pe ter has recently married a young girl from the country. She has soon learnt the ways of London and has become somewhat extravdgant. He is also anxious to prevent the relationship between Maria and Charles, preferring Joseph as a suitor. He would like to see Charles out of the way, because gossip tells him that his wife has taken a fancy to Charles; rumours started by Lady Sneerwell, to help break the lovers.

Sir Oliver Surface, uncle to Joseph and Charles, returns from India and means to make a trial of the brothers to test their true characters and decide who will inherit his fortune. He dons disguise and is received

ve.ry differently by each.

There are thirteen male roles and six femal e . As with most societies female members predominate and with some always "resting", large cast plays can prove to be a problem, but following a little arm twisting and T.L.C. the cast was completed.

Fortunately there are no specific ages mentioned, although some are quite obviously older than others, e.g. Sir Peter has married a much younger wife, Charles is the younger brother of Joseph. So I applied the rules that I always do when casting. First the person must look correct for the role. Secondly tl1ey must sound right. Thirdly, they must be able to act it. I will have input into all these areas, to diffe ring degrees depending on who is cast. With names like L<ldy Sneerwell, Sir Benjamin Backbite,

Crabtree, Careless, the Tea~

Surfaces, I believe tha t \\ more about the characters do themselves.

From audition to perforf!' would normally require weeks, 1>0\[0 nights a week, ~

length play. As Cn in tervened, I used three: [1i _ week for the last three wee ­

The play naturally breaks io t group work, so some of thl' ­not see parts of the play un late on. In fact one mem.be

. weeks before the performan "Will somebody tell me w hat about?"

A large room in the St r= proved very convenient in tho.. stages, but we moved, m annoyance of the drinkt'T­space "stage size" for the last weeks, a Church Hall.

As rehearsals progressed much emphasis on the status tll character and on their relati, ­to others. The formality was Who would bow, or curl e\ whom. To what degree, a blown, very elab • acknowledgement or just ,1

Who didn't care, Careless. A deal of fu n was had in rehear:, these responses. The taller the Il' the more difficult it appeared. l' all did it in the end - they had before they could get off the s tit-

Three areas that we worked consistently were projccb enunciation and variation of So often criticized in ama theatre. The language of t hundred years ago was \ different to today's and the lear of lines proved very difficult eve!" seasoned actors. Many were \ grateful when they realised tl1d had cut some of their dialogue.

Several commented that it had ba.. their most difficult play to lea The play originally ran for well ('1\

three hours, without an inten Very often a playlet would fo il the main play, so no wonder th was a great deal of movement in audience, coming and going.

As the action takes place indoo~ within the time-span of a day It

costume changes were needed, jlh the odd coa t on or off.

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.\Iuch of the style is set in the costumes. They really did have to be "shown off", with heavy material for the ladies and well fitting clothes for the men. Movement was a task in itself; several, even minor role actors said that it was tiring, because of the concentration required to wear the costumes correctly.

We are blessed with a local costumier, Gill Scard, who 1am sure feels that to costume a show, whatever the production, is a labour of love. Many of the hired costumes I"ere ex-BBe and showed in the quality, with vivid colours, elaborate and correct in every way. On inirial investigation it was quite obvious that the budget for costumes would be more than we had spent on any individual production before, but after making this publicly known, we were very grateful for generous sponsorship that il!lowed us to do the play justice on costumes.

All wore a wig at some point, so much time was spent on choosing the correct one for each character. This was followed up by the precise fitting and wearing, as far back on the head 'lS possible.

In the late 17005 props were used in a minimal way, just the bare essentiills. A few chairs and tables, glasses and bottles and little else. Someone couldn't eat a proper meal for a week after we borrowed their dining room d1airs l Props were moved on, off and around by servants and maids, in costume, including wigs.

I had decided, I'ery early on, to recreate as closely as possible the atmosphere of a Georgian Theiltre, so out came the front tabs and three sets of blnck, cloth legs on stage. The tabs were repl.aced with what were the original "stage doors", doors that led directly onto the acting area, not as we refer to the stage door now, giving access to all areas behind stage from the street. Solid fla ts replaced the legs. These flats and the "stage door" assemblies we rured in from Easy Stages. We changed the black floor to floor boards (painted hardboard), for very little cost.

Settings 200 years ago were very much two dimensional with flats being positioned by sliding in from the wings, or sometimes flown. Due !t> lack of wing space flying was the

nly option. So, with . three cloths and three sets of flats we created ~ig ht settings, requiring thirteen >cene changes for fifteen scenes.

ur strong men were kept busy in fly gallery.

th the action always inside and in space of one day, there ("ere no

.3lJy difficult effects to create.

What was required was a general feeling of warmth, so yellows and reds blended together. There were no blackouts, scenes changed with 30% lighting. As we played much of the action well down stage the full use of two lighting bars was lost and unfortunately some areas were not covered as well as I had requested, as we ran out of channels, throwing shadow onto some flats.

1\ string trio came together to play music live. Another decision taken very early. The easy way would have been to playa tape, but 1 love th.e challenges that theatre throws up. They practised pieces of William Boyce (1711-1779), some of which was used in the original production, on their own and joined the cast for the last four rehearsals. 1 used them at the beginning and end of each act, over scene changes and once when things beca me somewhat solemn. They were in view during performance, on the fore stage left and proved to be very popular with the cast and audience.

As with most productions, the director will get to a stage of thinking, "Why am I doing this?" 1 did several times, twice during one rehearsal. But as long as the preparation has been put in prior to rehearsals by the director and then transferred to the cast, the final creation will provide a rugh class evening of entertainment. This certainly happened with 'The School"", as it came to be called. I certainly underes timated the difficulty that the cast would have with the language, but we are all learning and 1 am now better prepared for the next one of trus type should it come my way.

Several of my close associates in theatre have said they would not attempt this play or such like, because of the degree o f difficulty and did not know of many groups that could do it justice. The audience reaction on leaving was very satisfying. They were extremely pleased with what they had seen, because it was so different.

When directing a play r paint a picture, in my mind, of how I see it finally performed, 80'J;, to 90% complete, the final part coming from the cast. My picture of rile School for Scandal came alive at the dress rehearsal and will live with me for a very long time. On that night 1 realised that the cast had really listened to me and taken it in. The production team put it together technically and all gave me everything...and some.

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