Orator, poet, playwright, manager of the Drury Lane Theatre, and even advisor to the Prince of Wales, Richard Brinsley Sheridan is remembered for comedies that have been revived again and again since they were written in the 18th century.

Though set in that time, ever-popular The School for Scandal is by no means out of date. The language may need some dictionary consultation at times; nevertheless, this play is well worth the effort to read it and imagine characters like Sir Benjamin Backbite and Lady Sneerwell doing their utmost to destroy the reputations of friends and enemies alike. As one deceptively upright fellow says of another inveterate gossip, “…whenever I hear the current running against the characters of my friends, I never think them in such danger as when [Mrs.] Candour undertakes their defence.”

A morality play that exposes the wickedness and the folly of spreading tales, true or false, The School for Scandal teaches its lessons in a manner that will leave you laughing out loud ― especially when the muckrakers compete with each other in their invention of rumours that are patently untrue.

Do you enjoy gossip or avoid it?

Do you ever read plays?