First performed at Drury Lane Theatre in 1777, The School for Scandal is among the most celebrated comedies of manners, brilliantly exposing the vices and follies of the age. A swiftly moving plot and witty, polished dialogue have ensured its enduring popularity.
Sir Peter Teazle, a middle-aged, wealthy bachelor, has recently married the young, comely daughter of a country squire. The fashionable society which Lady Teazle now enters includes the Surface brothers – Joseph, hypocritical and scheming, and Charles, feckless but warmhearted, both hoping to marry Sir Peter’s ward, Maria. Also in the running for Maria’s hand is Sir Benjamin Backbite, a member of Lady Sneerwell’s circle, which occupies itself mainly with malicious gossip, whose arrows no one, however chaste, can completely escape. |
