REVIEW
The School for Scandal
University of Alberta Studio Theatre
Runs until April 7
Timms Centre for the Arts
112 St. and 87 Ave.
Tickets: $12 to $25. Call 780-492-2495
“Would you deprive us of our privileges?” asks the suitably named Lady Sneerwell in the University of Alberta Studio Theatre’s year-end production of The School for Scandal.
Lady Sneerwell is a stunningly beautiful woman, the widow of a sitting knight. She is also the leader of upper crust scandalmongers that delight in spreading salacious gossip. The more outrageous the lies, the greater the pleasure.
Playwright Richard Brinsley Sheridan targets the world of 18th century London where waspish gossip, greed and hypocrisy rule. It’s not a stretch to describe this social satire as a commentary on fake news of its era.
Although School for Scandal has minimal plot, this character piece is loaded with witty repartee, and director Mitchell Cushman makes the most of the play’s heavy artillery.
In one of the opening scenes, Lady Sneerwell (Hilary Warden) sits in her boudoir dabbing powder on her face and adjusting a dress as she speaks to an obsequious flunky, Snake (Erin Pettifor).
She is a woman of painted perfection fixated on the external. Unfortunately, Sneerwell's outward beauty is at odds with an ugly, malicious nature.
Through Her Ladyship we meet other characters, both spineless partners in crime and the victims of abuse.
Among the latter are the older Sir Peter Teazle (Connor Stuart), and his spendthrift younger wife, Lady Teazle (Priya Narine). She causes her husband no end of frustration by frittering away money on trendy fashions.
During one of their sparring matches, she glibly tells him, “If you wanted authority over me, you should have adopted me.”
Lady Teazle, a woman of low birth before marrying Sir Peter, is desperate to fit in with her new muckraking acquaintances and dishes some pretty hardcore vitriol. Her aging husband, on the other hand, despises gossip.
Actor Connor Stuart’s sad, hangdog expressions at Sir Peter’s inability to control his wife's choices are priceless and a delightful portrait of marital discord.
In fact, the play’s funniest scene is when a bored Lady Teazle tries to take the feckless, self-serving Joseph Surface (Silverius Materi) as a lover. When Lord Teazle unexpectedly arrives, she is forced to duck behind a screen.
These cliquish relationships are endlessly entangled. Lady Teazle flirts with Joseph. He instead desires the wealthy ward Maria. But Maria is infatuated with Charles who in turn loves a comfortable lifestyle.
Without a doubt, the play is about relationships – the friction, the ruptures and the reparations people make. And the list of notable performances delivering the message is considerable.
Among the standouts are Gabby Barnard as Mrs. Candour, a tattler spreading the latest dirt; Billy Brown as Charles, a wastrel who eagerly sells family paintings for quick cash, and Alex Cherovsky as Sir Oliver Surface, a mysterious, rich uncle in disguise, testing his nephew's loyalties.
Last but not least is St. Albert’s Hayley Moorhouse, as Mrs. Rowley, Sir Peter’s unexpectedly normal and clever steward.
This comedy of manners is a very stylized show highlighted by Robert Shannon’s magnificent set, props, costume and projected media design that immediately conjures visions of Sheridan's world.
The play clocks in at three hours (intermission included), and for some that’s a downside. But in this social media age of bullying and spread of misinformation, The School for Scandal is a reminder that what is old is new again.
