Sheridan, Richard Brinsley

The School For Scandal (Classic Books on Cassettes Collection)

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Easy to Read - Great Comedy More Than Two Centuries Later
Good satire of gabby society
Delightfully Scandalous
Comedy of Manners

The School For Scandal (Classic Books on Cassettes Collection)
Richard Brinsley Sheridan
Manufacturer: Audio Book Contractors
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio Cassette

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ASIN: 1556856156

Book Description

New Mermaids are modernized and fully-annotated editions of classic English plays. Each volume includes: • The playtext, in modern spelling, edited to the highest bibliographical and textual standards • Textual notes recording significant changes to the copytext and variant readings • Glossing notes explaining obscure words and word-play • Critical, contextual and staging notes • Photographs of productions where applicable • A full introduction which provides a critical account of the play, the staging conventions of the time and recent stage history; discusses authorship, date, sources and the text; and gives guidance for further reading. Edited and updated by leading scholars and printed in a clear, easy-to-use format, New Mermaids offer invaluable guidance for actor, student, and theatre-goer alike.

Customer Reviews:

Easy to Read - Great Comedy More Than Two Centuries Later.......2003-08-21

The School for Scandal was a pleasant surprise. We meet devious and unscrupulous characters, not the ragtag pickpockets found in later stories by Dickens, but self-centered members of the leisure class in London. The cast includes the appropriately named Lady Sneerwell, Mr. Snake, Mr. Crabtree, Sir Benjamin Backbite, Mrs. Candour, and the superficial Mr. Surface - individuals all too capable of undermining the most refined and honest reputations with innuendoes and ingenious fabrications.

Unlike the literature and poetry of the preceding centuries, footnotes are not needed for this late eighteenth century play. I read the entire play in a single session, and clearly this is a comedy to be relished, one whose enjoyment comes as naturally today as when it was first staged at Drury Lane theater in London in 1777.

Why does Richard Brinsley Sheridan's play still resonate with today's audience? Sheridan offers a deliciously humorous look at that fascinating and seemingly unchanging human characteristic, the propensity to gossip, to tell tales about others with only limited concern for the truth. Like Mrs. Candour, we all claim to abhor gossip, and would not ourselves consider creating fictitious tales, but are we immune from conveying stories about others, even stories which are suspect?

Lady Sneerwell rationalizes: Wounded myself in the early part of my life by the envenomed tongue of slander, I have since known no pleasure equal to the reducing others to the level of my own injured reputation.

Mr. Snake, another memorable villain, explains: I beg your ladyship ten thousand pardons: you paid me extremely liberally for the lie in question, but I unfortunately have been offered double to speak the truth.

The School for Scandal is a classic example of an English comedy of manners. The dialogue is witty and entertaining. The plot is elaborate and contrived, but always maintains interest and momentum as Sheridan brings his intertwined subplots to an entertaining and satisfactory conclusion. Along the way we encounter devious plots and counterplots, disguised identities, and outrageous behavior. It is great fun.

Good satire of gabby society.......2002-09-13

Sheridan's phrase "school for scandal" is a grand metaphor for the gossipy London society of the late 1770's, and the longevity of the play that bears it as its title attests to its relevance in any place and time. Sheridan captures the inherent drama and humor in the truism that people are always talking about other people behind their backs and uses it as a foundation on which to devise a plot of intrigue.

The school's "principals" are Lady Sneerwell and a man named Snake, who like to collect gossip about their neighbors and others in London society; one of their cohorts is the brilliantly ironic character Mrs. Candour, who openly reprehends idle gossip but blithely participates in it anyway. One of their favorite subjects of gossip is the Surface brothers, Joseph and Charles. The popular perception is that Joseph is responsible and respectable, while Charles is a wastrel and a miscreant.

The Surface brothers' uncle, Sir Oliver Surface, returns to London after spending many years in India, hears the rumors about his nephews, and decides to verify them for the purpose of choosing an heir between the two. Since he has been gone so long that his nephews would not recognize him, he visits them incognito. Posing as a moneylender to Charles, and as a poor relative to Joseph, he discovers that his nephews are not quite of the natures he has been led to believe.

Sheridan employs some typical comedic devices like love triangles and hiding characters, but for the most part this is an inventive play that picks its targets well and hits the bullseye every time. Considering it was written at such a turbulent time in England's history, it's interesting that social satire still managed to break through greater national concerns and be successful and appreciated.

Delightfully Scandalous.......2002-01-02

This book made it fun and delightful to follow how rumors and scandals are started. Anyone who wants a ligth hearted read in the style of a Shakespearean comedy, "School for Scandal" by Richard Sheridan is for you. It has the most entertaining characters, who anyone could recognize as being people they know and are friends with, and it pokes fun at soap-opera-like dramas that have forbidden loves and misleading coincidences. The situations that arise seem so unthinkable and impossible, and then you realize that you or someone you know has been there right down to the last detail. "School for Scandal" is a entertaining read for anyone who has ever passed on a rumor.

Comedy of Manners.......2001-08-04

The aptly named Sir Oliver Surface would like to know which of his nephews is the more worthy, and, well, nothing is ever simple. This comedy of manners is one of the best ever written, and it rings true 225 years after its first performance thanks to its snide comments on English aristocrats and one-liners such as "I'm called away by particular business. But I leave my character behind me."

Book Description

Immensely popular comedy of manners featuring such memorable characters as the lovely Lydia Languish, her suitor, Capt. Jack Absolute; and Lydia's aunt — Mrs. Malaprop, cleverly revolves around false identities, romantic entanglements, and parental disapproval. Brilliant comic masterpiece satirizing the pretentiousness and sentimentality of 18th-century society.

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Mrs. Mal. You thought, Miss!--I don't know any business you have to think at all--thought does not become a young woman; the point we would request of you is, that you will promise to forget this fellow--to illiterate him, I say, quite from your memory. (Note: all the webmaster's mis-typings on own message board have just been explained by genetics.)

Customer Reviews:

A Classic Comedy of Manners - Gentle, Humorous Satire.......2003-10-30

The editor, Alan Downer, cautions the reader (as opposed to a spectator of the play) "not to allow himself to be troubled by the labyrinthine mechanics of the plot". Enjoy the comic aspects of the moment; the play will take care of itself. Downer argues that Sheridan envisioned The Rivals as a series of comic scenes, not necessarily a tightly woven plot.

In his preface Richard Brinsley Sheridan reminds the readers that this play was not initially well received and, in fact, he had to withdraw the play to remove imperfections. His later version was more successful and today The Rivals is one of the few English comedies from that period that continues to interest modern audiences.

I found the beginning slow. The author's wordy preface was followed by a prologue in which two lawyers plead with the audience to give this play fair consideration. On the tenth night a new prologue replaced the pleading as it was now obvious that the revised play was indeed successful. In Act 1 I had some difficulty keeping track of the characters and I chose to reread the first act before proceeding. Thereafter, the going was much smoother and I began to appreciate the foibles of the characters and their confused machinations.

The protagonist, the young Captain Absolute, was sensible for the most part, although his plan to woo the capricious Lydia Languish was obviously destined for trouble. The other characters included his excitable father Sir Anthony Absolute, his father's patient ward Julia, the silly Mrs. Malaprop, the comic gentleman wooers Faulkland, Acres, and Sir Lucius O'Trigger, and the conniving servants Fag, David, Thomas, and Lucy. While Sheridan does encourage us to laugh at his characters, his satire is gentle. His characters are not at all unlikable, just a little eccentric and possibly not overly intelligent.

I recently read and reviewed Sheridan's enjoyable The School for Scandal and I recommend that the reader new to Sheridan begin with it rather than The Rivals. Both plays are short and can be read with little difficulty with the help of an occasional footnote. For my reading of The Rivals I used the Crofts Classics edition in which Alan Downer provides a useful introduction, a list of key dates in Sheridan's life, footnotes, and a bibliography. I give four stars to The Rivals. I previously rated The School for Scandal as five stars.

Ageless comedy.......2000-10-26

This is the first major comedy by Sheridan, a radical Irish actor and politician in George III's England. Not quite as complex and astute as his later She Stoops to Conquer, the Rivals remains a warm, unforgettable, and very, very funny play.

Here we meet the chatty Mrs. Malaprop, who proudly tells us "if I reprehend anything in this world, it is the use of my oracular tongue, and a nice derangement of epitaphs"; her niece Lydia, lost in the world of lurid half-bound romantic novels; Sir Anthony Absolute, often wrong but never in doubt; Sir Lucious O'Trigger, of BlunderBuss Hall; and the rest. The dialogue and plot devices are well-crafted and funny; the social commentary is perceptive and satisfyingly naughty; but what stays with you is the humanity of each of the characters. These are not the charicatures of Restoration comedy, but personalties the reader will remember; ridiculous like all humans, but engendering empathy as well as laughter.

West Indies Accounts: Essays on the History of the British Caribbean and the Atlantic Economy
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The School for Scandal and Other Plays (Oxford World's Classics)
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Hilarious!

The School for Scandal and Other Plays (Oxford World's Classics)
Richard Brinsley Sheridan
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0192825674

Book Description

Richly exploited comic situations, effervescent wit, and intricate plots combine to make Sheridan's work among the best of of all English comedy. The School for Scandal (1777) is his masterpiece, a brilliantly crafted comedy of contrasts in which brothers Joseph and Charles Surface contend for Maria, with hilariously differing intentions and results. Also a work of acute comic irony, The Rivals satirizes the romantic posturing of Lydia Languish while her disguised suitor Captain Absolute's resourceful contrivances advance an ever inventive and skilfully wrought plot. Included in this edition are the opera play The Duenna and the rarely printed musical play A Trip to Scarborough, adapted from Vanbrugh's The Relapse. Sheridan's last play, The Critic, is an exuberant parody of the modish tragic drama of the day. Lampooning Sir Fretful Plagiary's absurdly bombastic historical drama during its confused stages of production, its satire never fails to delight. The texts of the plays have been newly edited by the General Editor of the Oxford World's Classics English Drama series. A fine introduction and notes on Sheridan's playhouses and critical inheritance make this an invaluable edition for study and performance alike.

Customer Reviews:

Hilarious!.......2000-05-18

This edition includes three of Sheridan's most famous works. "The Rivals" and "The Critic" are both fine plays, but the best by far is "The School for Scandal", a droll farce which lampoons gossip-mongers. The high point of the play is the famous "screen scene", in which one character after another takes refuge behind a screen to eavesdrop. The humor is sharp but never bitter, and the characters are wholly believable. It is easy to see why this play is still being performed after two hundred years.

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The School for Scandal
Richard Brinsley Sheridan
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Old School

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Sheridan's Plays : The Rivals, The School for Scandal, The Critic

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Sheridan's Plays : The Rivals, The School for Scandal, The Critic
Richard Brinsley Sheridan
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The School for Scandal And the Rivals
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Origins of the School for Scandal
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SHE STOOPS TO CONQUER: THE SCHOOL FOR SCANDAL.

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SHE STOOPS TO CONQUER: THE SCHOOL FOR SCANDAL.
Oliver & Richard Brinsley Sheridan. Goldsmith
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Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000O9PO2Q

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