High Society
By Daily Bruin Staff
March 8, 2001 9:00 p.m.
 From left, Paul Ellis as Crabtree,
Sarah Newman Weireter as Lady Teazle,
Michelle Haner as Lady Sneerwell, Ann
Stocking as Mrs. Candour, and Robert
Porch (foreground) as Sir Benjamin Backbite perform in
"The School for Scandal," which opens tonight.
By Darcy Lewis
Daily Bruin Contributor
It has been heard, on good authority, that Mr. L has been seen
with Mrs. B in Macgowan Hall, in the dark!
Of course, this might be because Michael Langham and Helen Burns
are directing a production of Richard Sheridan’s “The
School for Scandal,” but who knows what goes on when the
house lights are down in the Little Theater? “The School for
Scandal” opens tonight and runs through March 17.
“The exposé of this play is that world of absolutely
hypocritical politics,” Michael Langham said of the work,
first produced in 1777. “It was a favorite of George
Washington.”
Despite the ominously archaic pen date of the play, its themes
have a deep resonance in the lives of the modern audience.
“The base of life is the past ““ we can’t shake
it off,” Langham said.
The audience is encouraged to connect with the play’s
themes through the set design of “The School for
Scandal.” The extension of the set’s ceiling arches and
supports creates a sense among audience members that they share the
stage with the actors.
 Sarah Newman Weireter acts out her role
as Lady Teazle in "The School for Scandal." In this position, the
audience will find themselves absorbed in multiple exposés of
fidelity, honesty, love and sexual appetite, as deliciously as if
they were eavesdropping like little flies on a wall.
“It’s like a good “˜Friends’
episode,” said actress and graduate theater student Michelle
Haner.
Though written in the language of the Declaration of
Independence, the directors attempt to make the delivery of lines
very natural for the actors.
“We spent the first two and a half weeks devoted to the
books, dissecting the language,” said actor and graduate
theater student Mike Peebler about the cast’s
preparation.
Langham explained the emphasis he put on researching the
play.
“Classical theater is only alive if it is in touch with
contemporary theater,” he said.
Like listening to someone speaking with a thick accent, the
language of the play makes it a challenge to follow. Yet the
comedic strength of the play manages to find more universal
expression through humorous situations and exaggerated
characterizations of a variety of personalities.
“It’s a comedy, seriously,” said actor and
graduate theater student Steven Shields. “The mood of the
play is light and the criticism of the gossip seems playful, but
Sheridan is clearly making a successful case against the hypocrisy
inherent in the practice of gossiping.”
Besides being a biting satire, the story will also appeal to
hopeless romantics.
“It’s a love story, really,” Burns said.
“And it’s May and it’s September.”
Burns described the May/September relationship of Lady Teazle
(Sarah Newman Weireter) and Sir Peter (Shields) in the play. Sir
Peter’s doubts about his wife’s fidelity create a
tension in their relationship which resonates with modern
relationships.
Despite their struggles, the pair’s mutual affection
prompts Lady Teazle to bill herself and her husband as the happiest
couple in the country.
Sheridan’s social commentary is best seen in the character
of Joseph Surface.
“I did not have sexual relations with Lady Teazle,”
quipped Langham, implying that Surface can be compared to
today’s Bill Clinton, or a perfect politician.
Surface is a scheming trickster. He is all flowery praise as he
schmoozes someone but then he turns away and mutters his true
feelings in asides.
Michelle Haner’s Lady Sneerwell is the headmistress for
the “The School for Scandal.” Her deceitful
manipulation and malicious gossip are stereotypical of the
character traits that so outraged Sheridan. Lady Sneerwell and her
cronies ““ Mrs. Candour (Ann Stocking), Backbite (Robert
Porch), Crabtree (Paul Ellis) and Snake (David Chittick) ““
are all skillful characterizations which propel the gossip school
into session and abet the often funny and revealing situations that
make “The School for Scandal” so appealing, even
today.
As Mrs. Candour says in the play, “People will talk,
there’s no preventing it,” and this production of
“The School for Scandal” just may set their tongues
wagging.
THEATER: “The School for Scandal”
plays March 9 to 10, and 14 to 17 at 8 p.m. and March 11 at 2 p.m.
and 7 p.m. in Macgowan Hall’s Little Theater. Regular admission is
$15; $10 for senior citizens, UCLA faculty and staff; $7 for
students. For ticket information call (310) 825-2101.
