An Introduction to The School for Scandal

The School for Scandal was written by Richard Brinsley Sheridan, with a prologue by the famous actor David Garrick, and was first performed in 1777.

It’s the story of two brothers, one apparently a model citizen, the other a dissolute ne’er-do-well. But as the play progresses and the scandal-mongering backfires, the tables are turned on the siblings.

An enduring classic that still hits home today

With its themes of deceit, pride, love, gossip and capriciousness, The School for Scandal is one of the most enduring of all theatre classics. It showcases Sheridan’s mastery of farce, witty dialogue and delight in satirising upper-class pretension and affectation. Above all, it shows how appearances can be deceptive, and provides much else in terms of revelation and enjoyment along the way.

Often hailed as the best comedy of manners in English, The School for Scandal has been a crowd-pleaser for centuries. As a set text for students, it has the advantage over some older plays of language that’s more accessible (though exquisitely crafted).

In addition, its themes resonate even (or perhaps especially) today. As The New York Times said about one 2001 production: “The classy antidote one needs in a celebrity-crazed world where the invasion of privacy is out of control, but the art of gossip is nonexistent."

The School for Scandal 3 disc DVD pack contains:

• The full length feature DVD, with optional subtitles.
• The extras DVD, with in-depth interviews with cast and crew.
• The Mastershot DVD showing all entrances/exits, and lighting and scenery changes.

NOT FOR RENTAL: This DVD is authorised for retail sale for private home use and for use within schools and educational organisations.

Gallery

Crabtree, Tim Treloar, and the company

Lady Teazle, Beatrice Curnew, berates Sir Peter Teazle, Jonathan Battersby

Charles Surface, Adam Redmore

Moses, Guy Burgess and Sir Oliver Surface, Mark Extance

Sir Benjamin Backbite, Gareth Kennerley, and Crabtree, Tim Treloar

Joseph Surface, Samuel Collings

Charles Surface, Adam Redmore and the company

Snake, Guy Burgess and the company

Cast & Crew

Directed by Elizabeth Freestone

The Company

Maria

Joanna Christie

Joanna Christie

Joanna trained at Mountview. Joanna trained at Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts and was a member of the National Youth Theatre. Theatre includes One Night In November (Belgrade Theatre Coventry), Equus (Gielgud Theatre), A Course In A Restaurant (Old Vic/24 Hour Plays), Be My Baby (Hull Truck Theatre), Immaculate Conceit (NYT, Lyric Hammersmith), Golden Prospects (Skullduggery/Edinburgh Festival), Carcinoma (The Old Vic) and Alice’s Midsummer Night’s Dream (City Palace). Credits whilst at Mountview include Saved, Uncle Vanya and The Tempest. Television includes Lewis (series 2, ITV), Small Dark Places (BBC Short), Holby City (BBC1) and No Angels (World Productions/C4). Radio includes Fabulous Flops (BBC Radio 4).

Lady Teazle

Beatrice Curnew

Beatrice Curnew

Theatre includes About Tommy (Southwark PLayhouse), Hippolytus (Riverside Studios, Tour), Waiting for
Romeo (The Pleasance), Burial At Thebes (Nottingham Playhouse/US Tour/The Rose Kingston), Out of Chaos (Sophiensaele,
Berlin), Friends Uninvited (Esk Valley), Ladies In Retirement (National Tour),The Madras House, Scenes From A Separation, Macbeth and Much Ado About Nothing (Orange Tree), Improbable Fiction, (Stephen Joseph), Jump (24 Hour Plays, Old Vic), Veronika Sessions (Arcola), The Importance of Being Earnest (National Tour), Cyrano De Bergerac (Minack), The Principle Of Motion (Edinburgh) and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (National Theatre; Platform). Television includes Emmerdale (ITV), Emergency Rescue (Talkback Thames) and Glamour (LWT). Short Films include Therapy, Paranoia, Art and BP.

Lady Sneerwell

Amy Rockson

Amy Rockson

Theatre credits include Funny Girl (Chichester Festival Theatre), The Comedy of Errors (RSC/tour), Under Pressure (Jermyn Street), The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, Henry VIII (Bridewell), Oedipus, Agamemnon and Androcles and the Lion (Scoop Amphitheatre), Made in Spain (Etcetera), If I Should Fall (Off Broadway Theatre), Six Geese A Laying (Soho Theatre) and Cinderella (Oxford Playhouse). Television credits include Switch, The Godsend. Films include London Voodoo, Panchreston, Going Nowhere.

Mrs Candour / Trip

Harvey Virdi

Harvey Virdi

Harvey trained at The Academy Drama School. Her theatre credits include England People Very Nice (National Theatre), There’s Something About Simmy (Rifco Arts), Meri Christmas (Rifco Arts), The Deranged Marriage (Rifco Arts, 2005/2006), Behzti (Kali Theatre & Birmingham Rep), Twelfth Night (Albery Theatre), Calcutta Kosher (Kali Theatre), The Threepenny Opera (National Theatre), Higra (West Yorkshire Playhouse), Fourteen Songs, Two Weddings and a Funeral, A Tainted Dawn and A Yearning (Tamasha), Two Old Ladies, When We Are Married, Romeo and Juliet, Playboy Of The Asian World (Leicester Haymarket), Airport 2000 (Rifco), Exodus (Tara Arts), Staying On (Theatre of Comedy), Bravely Fought The Queen (Border Crossings), Magic Mirrors (Quicksilver) and Romeo and Juliet (Soapbox Theatre). Television includes Casualty, Coronation Street, Britz, Holby City, Murphy’s Law, Doctors, Cherished, Whose Baby?, Rose and Maloney, Hear the Silence, Boohbah, The House Across The Street, Staying Alive and The Bill. Film includes Swinging With The Finkels, No Honour, No Choice, It’s a Wonderful Afterlife, Mad, Sad & Bad, Brick Lane, Venus, The Blue Tower, It Could Be You, Mistress of Spices, Bride and Prejudice, Thunderbirds, Bend It Like Beckham, Anita and Me, Gran, Seven. Radio includes Inheritance of Loss, Westway (BBC World Service), Zubeda, Silver Street, Legacy, Singh Tangos, Shakti, Dancing Girls of Lahore, A Yearning, Samsara (all for BBC Radio 4).

Sir Peter Teazle

Jonathan Battersby

Jonathan Battersby

Jonathan trained at RADA where he won the Emile Littler Award for Best Comedy Performance. Recent work includes Gavrila in the Donmar West End (Wyndhams) production of Ivanov directed by Michael Grandage, Smithson/ Millburn at the National Theatre in Never So Good directed by Howard Davies, and the Harwood double bill Taking Sides/Collaboration at the Duchess Theatre directed by Philip Franks. Other credits at the National Theatre include Tamburlaine and Volpone directed by Peter Hall, Julius Caesar directed by John Schlesinger, Tales From The Vienna Woods directed by Maximillian Schell and Il Campiello directed by Bill Bryden. At the Royal Lyceum Edinburgh he appeared in Abigail’s Party, Macbeth and Dial M For Murder. Other theatre credits include seasons at Pitlochry in Chimneys, Further Than The Furthest Thing, Man Of The Moment, Summer Lightning, The Grapes of Wrath, Engaged, Lend Me A Tenor, The Government Inspector, Private Lives, The Tempest, Storm In A Teacup and The Caucasian Chalk Circle. Credits at the Byre Theatre St Andrews include Cat On A Hot Tin Roof, How The Other Half Loves and Blythe Spirit; credits at Dundee Rep include Last of the Red Hot Lovers, For King And Country, Sleuth and What The Butler Saw. TV credits include Taggart, Robert The Bruce, My Wymi, The Houseman’s Tale, Strathblair, The Advocates, Take The High Road, Cardiac Arrest, Crowdie and Cream and FOT. Recent TV credits include Emmerdale, Secret Diary Of A Call Girl and Doctor Who.

Snake / Moses

Guy Burgess

Guy Burgess

Guy trained at LAMDA. Theatre credits include Coriolanus (RSC), Twelfth Night (West Yorkshire Playhouse), The Tempest, As You Like It (Actors From The London Stage), Titus Andronicus (Riverside Studios), Poison (Tricycle Theatre), A Fool And His Money (Nottingham Playhouse), Ariadne Auf Naxos (Festival Theatre Edinburgh), Antony And Cleopatra, Othello (Bridewell Theatre), Henry V (Orange Tree Theatre), Hamlet, Romeo And Juliet, The Taming Of The Shrew (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre), Josephine (Battersea Arts Centre), Hiawatha (Crucible, Sheffield), The Merchant Of Venice, Volpone (English Shakespeare Company), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Derby Playhouse), The Revenger’s Tragedy, Godspell, Hair, (Theatre Clwyd), Abigail’s Party, Peter Pan, Mystery Of Edwin Drood (York Theatre Royal) Gypsy (Library Theatre Manchester), Amadeus, A Taste Of Honey (Bolton Octagon theatre). Television includes Holby City, Doctors, Eastenders and Pushkin and the Bronze Horseman. Film includes Looking for Langston. Guy will go into rehearsals shortly with the Broadway transfer of Cat On A Hot Tin Roof playing Lacy. The production will open at the Novello Theatre in December.

Joseph Surface

Samuel Collings

Samuel Collings

Theatre includes The Big Break/ Script-In-Hand (Hampstead Theatre), Doorbells of Florence (Vivid Dreams), The Garden (Riverside Studios), An Inspector Calls (Dukes Lancaster), News Revue, Without Laughing (Theatre 503), The Alice Project (BAC/Sprint), Dr Faustus (Liverpool Playhouse), Hanging Around (Kneehigh), Misper/Dido & Aeneas (Glyndebourne), Murder In The Cathedral (NYT), Curse of the Egyptian Mummy (Regent’s Park). TV/Film includes Holby City, The Insiders (series), Doctors, Hex II (series), Dan Clark’s Guide to Work, 1940’s Fable, A Tale of Two Girls, The Briefcase and Message in a Bottle. Radio includes various productions for BBC, Holy Mountain & live broadcasts for London Resonance/BBC New Writing.

Sir Oliver Surface

Mark Extance

Mark Extance

Theatre credits include And Then There Were None, Pygmalion (Old Vic & Hong Kong Arts Festival), Uncle Vanya (English Touring Theatre), Old Times (Theatre Royal Bath), Waiting For Godot (New Ambassadors), You Never Can Tell (Garrick Theatre), The Importance of Being Earnest (Green Room Theatre Co), Much Ado About Nothing (Jermyn St Theatre).

Sir Benjamin Backbite / Careless

Gareth Kennerley

Gareth Kennerley

Gareth trained at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Previous theatre productions include War Horse and Fiddler on the Roof (West End), War Horse and Saint Joan (National Theatre), The Pendulum (Mephisto Productions), Under Milk Wood (Tricycle Theatre), Fiddler on the Roof (Sheffield Crucible), Arden of Faversham (Skin and Bone), King Lear (Creation Theatre Company), In the Red (G&M Brand), Company and Assassins (Eyebrow Productions), A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Henry V (Bright  Angel Productions), A Soldier’s Tale and Living With Stalin (Connecting Arts), The Grapes of Wrath (Only Connect) and A Drawer Marked Pyjamas (Dylan Thomas Centre).  He has been involved with numerous developmental workshops and rehearsed readings for the National Theatre Studios, BAC, The Orange Tree Theatre, Commute and Blue Riot. He was the recipient of the Michael Bryant Verse Speaking Award 2005.

Charles Surface

Adam Redmore

Adam Redmore

Adam trained at The Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. Theatre credits include Follow (Finborough), Macbeth, Three Sisters, West Side Story, Kindertransport, Hobson’s Choice, Dying For It (RWCMD) and Billy and the BWCA (Edinburgh Fringe Theatre). Television includes Silent Witness (BBC1) and The Bill (Talkback). Radio includes Under Milk Wood (RWCMD).

Crabtree / Sir Toby

Tim Treloar

Tim Treloar

Tim trained at Lamda. Theatre credits include Macbeth (Broadway/West End), Twelfth Night (Chichester), Thomas More, Sejanus, Believe What You Will, Richard The Second, Romeo and Juliet, Back To Methuselah (RSC), Henry V (National), Mountain Language (Royal Court), Sing Yer Heart Out For The Lads (No1 Tour), Rose Rage (West End, Tour) and Beggars Opera (Orange Tree). TV and film includes Framed, Silent Witness, Lewis, The Bill, Touch of Frost, Casualty, Bombshell, Doctors, Midsomer Murders, The Brief, Mine All Mine, Single, Foyle’s War, The Bench, Bomber, Wondrous Oblivion and Morning Was Broken. Radio includes BBC Carleton Hobbs Winner.

Rowley

Conrad Westmaas

Conrad Westmaas

Conrad trained at The Poor School, London. Theatre credits include Romeo & Juliet (Globe Theatre/tour), The Travels of 3 English Brothers and The Observer (National Theatre Studio), Othello and Taming the Tempest (Salisbury Playhouse), The Glass Menagerie and Geek Love (Young Vic), Donkeys’ Years (Comedy Theatre), A State of Innocence (Theatre 503), Abigail’s Party (Hampstead Theatre/tour), Skyscraping (Soho Theatre), Thriller Season (Nottingham Theatre Royal), Scopa! and Elegies for Angels, Punks & Raging Queens (Bridewell Theatre), A Time to Speak and Charlie Sexboots (Stratford Circus), Royal Variety (Man in the Moon Theatre). Film credits include The Visitor (UK Film Council/ Spool Films), In a Day (NW3 Films) and Asylum (21st Century Films). On radio Conrad played a companion to Paul McGann’s Doctor for five years in the Doctor Who audio series (BBC/Big Finish).

All other parts played by members of the company

The Creative Team

Director

Elizabeth Freestone

Elizabeth Freestone

The Tragedy Of Thomas Hobbes (Royal Shakespeare Company at Wilton’s Music Hall),Here Lies Mary Spindler (RSC @ Latitude Festival), Romeo and Juliet (Globe Theatre UK and European tour), The Water Harvest (Theatre503), Skellig (tour), The Travels of Three English Brothers (British Museum), Top Girls and Three Sisters (Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama), Six Characters Looking for an Author(Central School), Lock the Gates (Lyric Hammersmith), Left on Church Street (Bridewell) and The Comedy of Errors (RSC). She was Associate Director on The Caucasian Chalk Circle at the National Theatre and was Staff Director on Market Boy (National Theatre) and Speaking Like Magpies, A New Way to Please You and Believe What You Will (RSC).
Elizabeth was literary associate at Soho Theatre and has worked as an assistant director at the Royal Court and Hampstead, including several rehearsed readings of new plays. She trained at Rose Bruford College and at the National Theatre Studio.

Set and Costume Designer

Neil Irish

Neil Irish

Neil trained in Birmingham and later at The Slade. Recent productions include Pelleas and Mellasande (Opera Theatre Co Dublin for Dublin and Belfast Festivals), The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (Northampton Theatres and Edinburgh Festival) Rigged (Theatre Centre), The Cunning Little Vixen (Czech National Theatre and Opera in Brno), The Shape of Things (Atac Theatre Istanbul), the new Opera Confuisus Says (HMDT at Hackney Empire, Winner of a Royal Philamonic Award 2009) and Woyzeck (Gate London). Also productions for West Yorkshire Playhouse, Watford Palace, Nottingham Playhouse, Birmingham Rep , Stephen Joseph Theatre Scarborough , Hull Truck, Gate Dublin , Bolton Octagon, Royal Lyceum Edinburgh, Arcola London, St Anne’s New York. Operatic productions include those for Opera North, English Touring Opera , Opera Theatre Co Dublin, Holland Park Opera, Mid Wales Opera, Opera Comique Paris, BAM New York, National Opera Studio and Almeida ENO Festival. Neil has designed many touring shows for both Compass and Red Shift Theatre Companies, and has also worked for both Set and Costume Department for BBC Birmingham.

Lighting Designer

Wayne Dowdeswell

Wayne Dowdeswell

Wayne trained at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and spent several seasons at Contact Theatre, Manchester before moving to the Royal Shakespeare Company (1978-2007). There he lit many notable productions for The Other Place,
The Pit and Barbican Theatres. He was Lighting Supervisor for the Swan Theatre where designs include: The Rover, The Fair Maid of the West, Titus Andronicus, The Jew of Malta, Doctor Faustus, The Duchess of Malfi, Edward II, The Seagull, Tamburlaine the Great, The Country Wife. In the West End lighting designs include The Shakespeare Revue, The Cherry Orchard, The ‘Jacobethan’ Season (Edward III, Eastward Ho!, The Roman Actor, The Island Princess, The Malcontent), The Tamer Tamed, The ‘Gunpowder’ Season (Thomas More, A New Way to Please You, Believe What You Will, Sejanus, Speaking like Magpies), Breakfast with Mugabe, The Canterbury Tales. Other Theatre productions include: Chasing Fate, Cat and Mouse, Not About Heroes, Macbeth, Educating Rita, The Vanek Plays, (London & Prague), Sweeny Todd, The Caucasian Chalk Circle, Present Laughter, Medea (West End and Broadway) A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Piaf, The Coventry Mysteries, The Birthday Party, Not the End of the World, The Truth About Lies, Death of a Salesman, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, The Life of Stuff, Whisky Galore! His designs for Opera include Eugene Onegin, The Mikado, Rinaldo (Grange Park Opera), The Mikado, (D’Oyly Carte, Savoy Theatre), The Cunning Little Vixen, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Longborough Festival Opera), Lucia di Lammermoor, (Scottish Opera 2007 and Mariinsky Theatre, St. Petersburg 2009). Wayne received Olivier Award nominations for Edward II, Tamburlaine the Great and Mede

Sound Designer / Composer

Adrienne Quartly

Adrienne Quartly

Theatre includes: The Fastest Clock in the Universe (Hampstead),The Container (Young Vic), Here Lies Mary Spindler, The Tragedy of Thomas Hobbes (Royal Shakespeare Company), 365 (National Theatre of Scotland), 93.2FM (Royal Court Theatre), Private Fears and Public Places, Just Between Ourselves (Royal and Derngate, Northampton), Small Change (Sherman Cymru), Lighter Than Air (Pleasance, Edinburgh 09), Nostalgia (Drum Theatre, Plymouth), Woyzeck (St Ann’s Warehouse, New York), My Real War (Trafalgar Studios),Torn, An Enemy of the People, Silver Birch House, (Arcola Theatre), The Last Waltz Season (Oxford Stage Company), Reykjavik (The Junction, Cambridge), The Stage Coach (Dublin), Was He Anyone? (Union Theatre), Amedee (Young Vic), A Touch of the Sun (Salisbury Playhouse/Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford), Hysteria (Mime Festival & International Touring), Tejas Verdes, Woyzeck (The Gate Theatre), Playing For Time, A Touch of the Sun (Salisbury Playhouse), Lucy Porter: Lady Luck (Assembly Rooms, Edinburgh), Mercy Fine (Clean Break Theatre Company), 3 Women, Jarman Garden (Riverside Studios), Hideaway (Edinburgh), Forgotten Voices (Southwark Playhouse), Attempts On Her Life (BAC), Habeas Corpus, Quartermaine’s Terms (Royal Theatre, Northampton), Inflated Ideas (Riverside Studios). Musical Director/Cellist on National Alien Office (Riverside Studios). Composer on Tragedy of Thomas Hobbes (RSC), Lighter than Air (Edinburgh 09)

Associate Director / Movement

Stuart Angell

Stuart Angell

Stuart was recently Movement/Assistant Director for A Respectable Wedding for ONO Theatre (Edinburgh Fringe Festival). In this he also played the part of the Groom. As an actor his other theatre credits include Puppeteer/Ensemble in Anthony Mingella’s Madam Butterfly for ENO (London Coliseum), Puppeteer in Low Life for Blind Summit Theatre (International Tour), Swing in Will Tuckett’s The Thief Of Baghdad for ROH2 (Royal Opera House, The Egg Theatre, Bath), Gluck in Will Tuckett’s Faeries for ROH2 (Royal Opera House), Puppeteer in An Odde Angel for Blind Summit Theatre (BAC), Gregor in Metamorphosis for ONO Theatre (Tour), Ensemble/Swing in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (European Tour) and, for television, Adventures On Orsum Island for Pineapple Squared Entertainment.

Producers

James Haddrell and Tim Sawers

James Haddrell and Tim Sawers

Wardrobe Supervisor

Sades Robinson

Sades Robinson

Costume Assistants

Hadar Vandar and Keeley Scothern

Hadar Vandar and Keeley Scothern

Dresser

Pippa Mawbey

Pippa Mawbey

Wig Stylist

Rebecca Jenkins

Rebecca Jenkins

Production Manager

Peter Williams

Peter Williams

Company Stage Manager

Penny Foxley

Penny Foxley

Deputy Stage Manager

Craig Almond

Craig Almond

Assistant Stage Manager

Ben Brayshaw

Ben Brayshaw

Production Electrician

Oliver Kipling

Oliver Kipling

Technical Assistant

Daniel Leman

Daniel Leman

Sound Production

Marc Cohen

Marc Cohen

Production Carpenter

Rae George

Rae George