C18th Farce Week

School for Scandal has had a very successful two night run and you can now see photos from the performance online in the theatre gallery. Alison McCallum, the director, writes;

"The iconic 1960’s photo of Christine Keeler, posed naked on a chair gave me the inspiration as to when to set Sheridan’s eighteenth century satire about scandal and damaged reputations.

Keeler was a good-time girl, having fun in a decade that saw massive changes. However her affair with a government minister, and a soviet diplomat at the height of the cold war led to the Tory government being brought down.

I decided to take Sheridan’s play and set it in one of the most scandalous times most of us have heard about if not lived through.

The play we presented was not the full length version. Due to unforeseen circumstances some major cutting and re-writing had to take place at the last minute which resulted with a new script being produced the week before. I think the cast did remarkably well to adapt to the new script at very short notice."

With that in mind, the students did an excellent job at keeping the show together. There were a couple of scenes where Alison had to cut a lot of conversation, but she replaced this with low lighting and 60's music while the characters seemed to be involved in deep conversation. As the music faded out we then heard a quick summary of the discussed plotting and so the audience were brought straight back into the story. The highlight of the show for me was Gavin's Sir Peter arguing with his wife on the telephone, where the year 11 student executed comic timing perfectly. Well done to all involved!

The second half of the C18th Farce Week starts tonight with Carlo Goldoni's Venetian Twins. The show starts at 7.30 and tickets are £4 for adults and £3 for students. The piece, dirceted by David Calder and performed by GCSE students, will run for the rest of the week.