'School For Scandal' review

Malvern Festival Theatre

SCHOOL FOR SCANDAL (Royal Theatre Bath Productions)

Choosing to sit in a darkened room for a couple of hours on one of the few, truly beautiful, summer’s evenings this year is quite an ask for even the most loyal theatre goer. However, the considerable audience gathered on the Malvern Theatres terrace, in the glorious Winter Gardens, for pre-show drinks before enjoying the delectations on offer, was a clear accolade of the guaranteed quality of a Theatre Royal Bath production. Those sacrificing the sunshine were, yet again, rewarded with a wonderful evening of exquisite entertainment.

An all-star cast, including Maggie Steed and Ian McNeice, presents Sheriden’s classic, School For Scandal, an 18^th century farcical exploration of the scandalous debauchery among the elitists of the time. Although the start of the play is incredibly wordy and overloaded with information on a multitude of individuals, some of whom we meet and many whom we don’t, it is eloquently delivered by Stuart Ellis and Serena Evans in the respective roles of Snake and Lady Sneerwell. The verbal confusion continues with additional tales from fellow gossipmongers, including the flamboyantly outrageous Crabtree and Sir Benjamin Backbite, perfectly portrayed by David Killick and Grant Gillespie. Edward Bennett is outstanding as Joseph Surface, delivering a magnificent vocal and physical performance throughout, beautifully matched by Susannah Fielding’s tour-de-force, Lady Teazle. It was a pleasure to see Nigel Harman again, after his award winning performance as Lord Farquaad in the West End’s Shrek – The Musical and John Conroy must be commended on his attention to detail with period movement in his role as Rowley. This is a real ensemble piece and the double casting utilises this talented cast to it’s fullest.

Despite some dubious ‘up’ staging decisions made by director Jamie Lloyd, which seems to be a tragically current directing fashion, he must be congratulated on some superb creative genius with the comical ‘screen’ scene and most magnificent ‘portrait auction’. Literally breathtaking! Soutra Gilmour’s set was suitably adaptable and proved a stark backdrop for the colourful characters adorning it. Everyone involved with this production must be congratulated.

This play is undoubtedly the forerunner to “Real Housewives” and “The Only Way Is Essex” proving that little has changed in the last three hundred years. School For Scandal runs until Saturday.