CONTEMPORARY ARTS
THE THEATRE
The School for Scandal. By Richard Brinsley Sheridan. (New.)
It is easy to forget that this admirable comedy was written by a young man of twenty-seven, for it has the patina of maturity both in its outlook and its execution. Thete-is nothing of the reformer's zeal and very little of the satirist's scorn in Sheridan's approach to the follies and vices of London society ; and his ," good " characters come to the rescue of the human reputation not so much by being better than the bad ones as by being more likable and more sensible. In this production they are also made to seem more real, more life- like ; not merely less affected, less extravagant in diction and gesture, but creatures living in another and to us more familiar convention. The effect of this is slightly to impair the urbanity of Sheridan's perspective. Lady Sneerwell's circle, instead of being a dangerous but in its way attractive part of Lady Teazle's world, is seen as a separate, rarefied microcosm populated by mannerisms rather than men. Sheridan, who knew how to point his own contrasts between one sort of person and another, is here given more help than he really needs ; and the elaborate posturings and pirouettes which are endemic in the Sneerwell coterie would have served better to conceal the defects of bad dialogue than to set off the excellencies of dialogue which—if only the characters would stop behaving like liberty horses—we should recognise as very good indeed.
But this is the only fault in a dazzling and distinguished produc- tion which gives London an eagerly awaited opportunity of welcom- ing home Sir Laurence and Lady Olivier. Her Lady .Teazle is in every way a lovely performance, with just the right dash of gaminerie in it. His Sir Peter—quiet, dry, ruefully wise—has a withdrawn, reflective quality ; there is something in his bearing—the sort of veiled alertness the hint of. potency which you see in a hawk at rest—which, though it is not particularly congruous to the part, somehow adds to the pleasure with which we watch him play it. Mr. George Relph, in a make-up Most felicitously suggesting his torrid years in Bengal; plays Sir Oliver Surface with immense gusto and complete success, but neither of his nephews quite rises to the occasion—Joseph because Mr. Peter- Cushing shows us a polished but a rather too mechanical intriguer, Charles because Mr. Terence Morgan, though he acts very pleasantly, lacks the requisite panache. The decor and the costumes, by Mr. Cecil Beaton, are extremely handsome and wholly appropriate to the spirit of the play.
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