The School for Scandal

Doors open 7.15pm, show starts at 7:45 pm

Tickets on sale to the public from 15th April

 In May 1777, it was reported that a man passing the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane heard 'an enormous roar coming from within' and thought that the whole building was falling down.  What he actually heard was the audience responding to Richard Brinsley Sheridan's new smash hit, The School for Scandal.  By the end of the 18th Century, it had been performed more than any other play in London and has been regularly revived ever since. A crackling satire on an ostensibly polite society, the play is populated by a cast of hypocrites, schemers, and fake news pedlars.  It is filled with dazzlingly sharp repartee, a non-stop barrage of wit and farcical situations.  Numerous plots revolve around each other; an old man trying to manage his young wife, a widow's revenge on those who maligned her, brothers whose characters are the opposite of what they seem and a rich uncle from the far east who returns unexpectedly.  However, all of these are simply a way to get "the scandalmongers" on stage and watch while they demolish the characters of all their friends and acquaintances - including any of their company that happen to leave the room for a moment.  The brilliance of the writing is that, although the times may have changed, the scandal and gossip are as fresh (and sometimes as nasty!) as if they had appeared on Twitter rather than the scandal sheets of the time.  As Lady Sneerwell says: 'Wounded myself in the early part of my life by the envenomed tongue of slander, I confess I have since known no pleasure equal to the reducing others to the level of my own injured reputation'.  Enjoy!

 Monday's Charity night is in aid of St. Margaret’s Hospice which has been at the heart of Somerset’s community for over 35 years delivering high quality, responsive & compassionate care to patients facing a life- limiting illness and to their families. With two hospice sites – Yeovil & Taunton - as well as five community based teams, caring for patients in their homes, we continually strive to reach everyone in the community that needs our care, often during their precious last days. Tickets for this performance can be obtained from Ian Williamson email: idcwiliamson@gmail.com tel:07478 672185