The School for Scandal
Otterbein University
Director's Notes
A Brief Bit of Historical Context
School for Scandal is classified interchangeably as a Restoration Comedy and a ‘Comedy of Manners.’
A Comedy of Manners is a play that is intimately concerned with the manners, social customs, and mores of a particular time and segment of society.
Restoration refers to the return of King Charles II from exile and the following ‘restoration’ of the Stuart Monarchy to the throne of England in 1660. It was with this restoration that the theatres of England were re-opened after being closed for 18 years under previous Puritan regime.
It was with the reopening of the English Theatres that women for the first time were permitted to act upon the British stage. Previously all female roles had been played by men. This introduction of women on to the stage created an incredibly sexually charged environment that was tremendously exciting for audiences and playwrights alike, and sex and the pursuit of sex, infidelity and true love became dominant themes in plays of the time.
Restoration Comedy & School for Scandal Today:
By our standards Restoration theatre can appear quite tame and can be arguably very difficult for modern audiences to find their way into not only because of the heightened language, but also because of the focus on the manners and customs of 17th and 18th century English society. Indeed, in the continental US, restoration comedy, once tremendously popular, is now rarely ever produced, it often is thought of as ‘drier’ and ‘wordier’ than the broad comedy and ready accessibility of farce, which continues to be a mainstay of English - speaking theatre.
However, today, School for Scandal is topical and contemporary in a way that it has not been seen in perhaps a hundred years. One need look no further than our social media platforms to see the ‘call out culture’ and reputation destroying cliques of Sheridan’s London. We have our own contemporaneous versions of the vainglorious Sir Benjamin Backbite; people so enslaved to appearances that they stage and put on makeup for their ‘just rolled out of bed look’ selfie postings to Instagram. Facebook is where we present our carefully curated public face, showing our 4000+ ‘friends’ the life we them to perceive we have, rather than the one we actually live. The Scandal mongers (led by Lady Sneerwell) are very easily identified in the Trolls of Facebook and Twitter, where anything posted by another is instantly parsed, dissected, and either twisted, or used as a type of fuel for some socially incendiary proclamation. These Scandals call out others mercilessly for any offense (actual or perceived) and feast upon the upset that they cause. Indeed, it is accusation more than evidence that destroys reputations today. A glance at current events clearly exposes people in positions of national authority pushing the most ridiculous ‘alternative facts’ (i.e. lies) in the public circle of the media so brazenly that they themselves begin to believe the fabrications, when in fact, the emperor has no clothes. It is clear that we are not so far removed, indeed, from the world of Sheridan’s masterpiece.
However, today we are here for laughs, not laments. And all of the Scandal company wishes you the most enjoyable of experiences at the show tonight!
Please know that if you do enjoy the show, the credit for that belongs to you, and to every person whose name appears in your program. If anything disagrees with you tonight, those mistakes are entirely mine.
Thank you for coming to the Theatre!
- Mark Mineart