{"id":23354,"date":"2016-04-21T19:30:33","date_gmt":"2016-04-22T02:30:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bostonartsdiary.com\/wordpress\/?p=23354"},"modified":"2017-05-18T20:42:03","modified_gmt":"2017-05-19T03:42:03","slug":"the-school-for-scandal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bostonartsdiary.com\/wordpress\/2016\/04\/the-school-for-scandal\/","title":{"rendered":"The School For Scandal"},"content":{"rendered":"

Play (1777)
\nby Richard Brinsley Sheridan<\/p>\n

Directed by Paula Plum
\nAdapted by Steven Barkhimer<\/p>\n

Actors’ Shakespeare Project<\/a>
\nCambridge Multicultural Arts Center, Lechmere area, Cambridge
\nApril 13 – May 8, 2016<\/p>\n

Set Designer: J. Michael Griggs; Lighting Designer: Karen Perlow; Costume Designers: Tyler Kinney and Jen Bennett; Hair and Makeup Designer: Amber Voner; Sound Design: Darby Smotherman; Props Master: Misaki Nishimiya; Movement: Susan Dibble; Vocal Coach: Maureen Brennan; Stage Manager: Marsha Smith; Production Manager: Deb Sullivan<\/p>\n

With Lydia Barnett-Mulligan (Lady Teazle, Snake); Gabriel Graetz (Crabtree, Sir Peter Teazle), Sarah Newhouse (Lady Sneerwell); Omar Robinson (Charles Surface), Rebecca Schneebaum (Maria, et al), Richard Snee (Sir Oliver Surface, Backbite), Bobbie Steinbach (Mrs. Candour, Moses), Michael Underhill (Joseph Surface, Stanley)<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"William
William Hogarth
“An Election Entertainment” (1755)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
An entertaining and well-directed rendering of the great eighteenth century farce about undermined and rediscovered relationships.<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

The plot is way too involved to outline, but suffice it to say that two grown brothers are not really what they seem. The noble-looking one, Joseph Surface (Michael Underhill), is involved with Maria (Rebecca Schneebaum) who, in turn, really wants to be with Charles Surface (Omar Robinson). A whole group of busybodies is involved in the intrigues directed to Joseph and Charles including Sir Peter Teazle (Gabriel Graetz) and Lady Teazle (Lydia Barnett-Mulligan), and the gang of unsuitables including Lady Sneerwell (Sarah Newhouse) and Snake (Lydia Barnett-Mulligan) who want to make life difficult for everyone.<\/p>\n

It’s a lot of fun.<\/p>\n

\"Cast
Cast of “The School for Scandal”
Photo: Stratton McCrady
Courtesy of Actors’ Shakespeare Project<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This production, directed by the distinguished actress, Paula Plum, bears all the indication of her deftly dramatic acting technique. The production, though fairly long at two and a half hours, is consistently entertaining and well-acted throughout. Plum gives this not very profound but fun work its run for the money with all sorts of appropriate histrionics. <\/p>\n

As well, Steve Barkhimer, the noted Boston-area actor and playwright who has performed in scads of Actors’ Shakespeare Project productions often as a comedic presence, has provided a wonderfully fun adaptation of the script.<\/p>\n

Here, everyone seems to be having a good time. The case of eight players doubles up quite a bit, but nothing gets overly confusing. <\/p>\n

\"Lydia
Lydia Barnett-Mulligan as Lady Teazle
Michael Underhill as Joseph Surface
in “The School for Scandal”
Photo: Stratton McCrady
Courtesy of Actors’ Shakespeare Project<\/a>[<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sarah Newhouse, a wonderful long-time ASP star – I vividly remember her Cordelia in the great ASP production of King Lear<\/em> starring Alvin Epstein – as Lady Sneerwell, is perfectly sinister and small-minded, a perfect complement to Lydia Barnett-Mulligan’s Snake in conceiving the social manipulations that ensue. As well, Barnett-Mulligan as Lady Teazle is additionally great – so out of the box and off the wall, vivid and hysterically funny.<\/p>\n

It’s great to see such a full roster of great ASP actors here.<\/p>\n

Omar Robinson (Charles Surface) is a great ne’er do well<\/em> who turns out to be not as ne’er<\/em> as one would expect. Richard Snee is a combined pleasure as Sir Oliver Surface and Backbite, plus probably a few other things. Bobbie Steinbach, both as Mrs. Candour and Moses, does a great double turn, and Gabriel Graetz holds down Sir Peter Teazle and Crabtree with aplomb.<\/p>\n

As the superficially wonderful Joseph Surface, Michael Underhill is appropriately saccharine and ingratiating. Rebecca Schneebaum, as Maria, etc, is direct and forthright.<\/p>\n

\"Omar
Omar Robinson as Charles Surface
Bobbie Steinbach as Moses
in “The School For Scandal”
Photo: Stratton McCrady
Courtesy of Actors’ Shakespeare Project<\/a>[<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Because Sheridan is not Shakespeare, one has to remember that his elongated plot is not, like The Bard’s, going to be embellished either with great poetry or a lot of philosophical insight. It’s fun, it’s bawdy, it has a nice message overall, but, apart from its entertainment value and curiosity as a play of a certain genre in a certain era, it’s got its limitations. <\/p>\n

That said, this production is lively and wonderful and exhibits many great talents all around.<\/p>\n

Costumes and hair are distinctively interesting, appropriate to the era but a bit caricaturish, as though ordered in by the great visual satirist of the era, William Hogarth.<\/p>\n

The space at the Cambridge Multicultural Arts Center is used beautifully for this show, placing the audience on risers across the full length of a stage which stretches broadly in front. The set is relatively simple but effective and the selection of the space itself is quite brilliant – as one looks up at the Baroque embellishments on the upper walls and the ceilings one realizes how deftly it was chosen for this show.<\/p>\n

– BADMan<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Play (1777)
\nby Richard Brinsley Sheridan
\nDirected by Paula Plum
\nAdapted by Steven Barkhimer
\nActors’ Shakespeare Project<\/a>
\nCambridge Multicultural Arts Center, Lechmere area, Cambridge
\nApril 13 – May 8, 2016<\/strong>
\nAn entertaining and well-directed rendering of the great eighteenth century farce about undermined and rediscovered relationships.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-23354","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-plays","7":"entry","8":"has-post-thumbnail"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bostonartsdiary.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23354","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bostonartsdiary.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bostonartsdiary.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bostonartsdiary.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bostonartsdiary.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23354"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/bostonartsdiary.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23354\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25231,"href":"https:\/\/bostonartsdiary.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23354\/revisions\/25231"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bostonartsdiary.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23354"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bostonartsdiary.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23354"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bostonartsdiary.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23354"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}