The text of this edition is transcribed from that of George Nettleton, with additions or deletions set off in brackets. Also included are the dedicatory 'Portrait Addressed to Mrs Crewe', Garrick's 'Prologue', and G Colman's 'Epilogue'. Edited by John Loftis, this edition of The School for Scandal for performance and study also includes an introduction, a list of principal dates in the life of Richard Brinsley Sheridan, and a selected bibliography.
This new collection of essays on Richard Brinsley Sheridan brings the most important British playwright of the eighteenth century back to the forefront of literary and cultural studies of the era. While his pyrotechnic life as a romantic hero, playwright, Member of Parliament, and theatre manager has generated a number of recent biographies, it is Sheridan’s works—not just plays but also poetry and orations—that endure. These essays reclaim the legacy of the man of letters and partisan bon vivant who burst from obscurity to become a powerful cultural force in Georgian London. This collection covers the many lives of Sheridan, taking into account both his variegated career and the competing accounts of the man, as well as his early verse, which lays the foundation for his success as a playwright. Chapters are devoted to Sheridan’s theatre, and provide innovative readings of his most famous dramatic pieces: The Rivals, The Duenna, The School for Scandal, The Critic, and Pizarro. The volume also includes extensive discussion of the dramatic highs of Sheridan’s long political career, thus placing the playwright-politician firmly in the world in which performance and politics were inextricably entwined. Contributors: Mita Choudhury, Jack E. DeRochi, Marianna D’Ezio, Daniel J. Ennis, Emily Friedman, Steven Gores, David Haley, Robert W. Jones, Daniel O’Quinn, Glynis Ridley, John Vance, David Francis Taylor
A biography of Richard Brinsley Sheridan, the writer of The School for Scandal and The Rivals. The text argues that Sheridan's Irishness was a crucial factor in his drive for English literary and political success.
Seminar paper from the year 2004 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 2,0, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (Institut für Anglistik), course: Seminar, language: English, abstract: This paper shall analyse Richard Brinsley Sheridan`s play “The School for Scandal”. This drama was first performed in 1776 in London’s Drury Lane Theatre, and was a cultural part of the colonization process in India. The aim of the first chapter is to provide some background information about Sheridan and his time, and also serves to explain the role which the concept of the sentimental comedy played during the time it was first performed in London. The main focus here, however, is to explore the differences as well as the comparable elements with other comedy genres. The second chapter deals with the production of “The School for Scandal” which was first performed in Calcutta in 1777. Here it seem appropriate to analise the motives behind the exportation of British culture into the colony and to find out more about the commercial as well as the cultural aspects. An important source of information in reference to this production is the Folger manuscript; a handwritten copy of the play complete with stage directions, which had been used at the New Playhouse in Calcutta. It is necessary to mention here that this Folger manuscript “recovered” by Mita Choudhury, whose essay about the production of “The School for Scandal” is the main source for the second part of this paper. The aim of this chapter however, is not to summarise her work, but rather to approach her argumentation critically. The last part of the paper deals with the question whether or not there is a connection between the play and the process of colonialism in Calcutta in terms of the production itself and its content. It also examines the part which colonialism plays within the drama, with regards to its moral and financial aspects.
Often called the best comedy of manners in English, and one of the most produced of all theatre classics, this delightful play brilliantly displays Sheridan's mastery of the mechanics of stage comedy, his flair for witty dialogue, and his obvious delight in skewering the affectation and pretentiousness of aristocratic Londoners of the 1770s. Publisher's Note.
