RSC ANNOUNCES FULL CASTING FOR THE SCHOOL FOR SCANDAL
Tinuke Craig directs Richard Brinsley Sheridan’s brilliantly biting comedy with Geoffrey Streatfeild as Sir Peter Teazle and Siubhan Harrison as Lady Sneerwell.
The School for Scandal
By Richard Brinsley Sheridan
Directed by Tinuke Craig
In repertoire Tuesday 2 July – Friday 6 September
Press Night: Tuesday 9 July, 7pm
Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon
Box Office: rsc.org.uk 01789 331111
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‘There’s no possibility of being witty without a little ill nature.’
Full casting is announced for the RSC’s forthcoming production of The School for Scandal. Directed by Tinuke Craig, the show runs in repertoire in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon between Saturday 2 July – Friday 6 September.
Geoffrey Streatfeild makes his return to the RSC in the role of troubled husband Sir Peter Teazle alongside Tara Tijani who makes her RSC debut as society beauty Lady Teazle.
Also making their debuts with the company this season are Siubhan Harrison who plays the conniving Lady Sneerwell with John Leader as Charles Surface and Yasemin Özdemir as Maria. They are joined by Stefan Adegbola as Joseph Surface and Wil Johnson as Sir Oliver Surface.
Tinuke Craig, director, said: “I’m so thrilled to be reviving this delightful play and to be working with such a skilled and inventive group of actors. There’s something about Sheridan’s approach to comedy that feels startingly fresh, relevant and contemporary, despite being written over 250 years ago. Vanity, envy, gossip, self-delusion, sleaze – it doesn’t take much to see how little our habits have changed over the years! And to be making this work at such an exciting time in the RSC’s history is the cherry on the cake.”
Geoffrey Streatfeild last appeared at the RSC from 2006-2008, playing Henry V in Michael Boyd’s Histories Cycle. Other theatre credits include: A Mirror (Almeida Theatre and West End), Watch on the Rhine (Donmar Warehouse), Blithe Spirit (Bath Theatre Royal and West End), The Way of the World (Donmar Warehouse), Cell Mates, Wild Honey (Hampstead Theatre), Platanov, Ivanov, The Seagull (Royal National Theatre), The Beaux Stratagem, Earthquakes in London, The Pains of Youth, The History Boys, Bacchai (National Theatre), My Night With Reg (Donmar Warehouse/West End), Macbeth, Copenhagen (Crucible Theatre), Eigengrau, The Contingency Plan: On The Beach (Bush Theatre), Journey’s End (Background Productions) and Mountain Language (Royal Court Theatre).
Geoffrey’s TV and film credits include Until I Kill You, Ruth, Consent, Anatomy of a Scandal, Life, Traitors, The Miniaturist, Prime Suspect 1973, The Hollow Crown, New Worlds, Endeavour, The Thick Of It, Spooks, Point of Rescue, Above Suspicion, Ashes to Ashes, Hunter, Elizabeth I, 20,000 Streets Under The Sky, Midsomer Murders, Timewatch, The Other Boleyn Girl, Love in a Cold Climate, Sword of Honour, KURSK, Making Noise Quietly, The Lady in The Van, A Royal Night Out, MI-5, Rush, Private Peaceful, City Slacker, Angel, Matchpoint and Kinky Boots.
Siubhan Harrison’s theatre credits include: Wildfire Road (Sheffield Crucible); The Ocean at the End of the Lane (National Theatre Productions at the Duke of York’s Theatre); Wonderful Town (Opera Holland Park); Home I’m Darling (Duke of York’s Theatre for National Theatre Productions); Me and My Girl (Chichester); The Country Wife, Working (Southwark Playhouse); I Call My Brothers (Arcola); Guys and Dolls (Savoy); Pitcairn (Globe); From Here to Eternity (Shaftesbury Theatre); Earthquakes in London (UK tour); Margueritte (Haymarket); Marianne Dreams (Almeida); and Les Miserables (Queens). TV and film credits include: The Great Escaper, Fifteen Love, The Song of Lunch and Little Deaths.
Stefan Adegbola last RSC in Titus Andronicus (2017). His other theatre include Quiz (Chichester Festival Theatre & UK Tour); Around the World in 80 Days (Theatre by the Lake); Interiors (Barbican); The High Table (Bush Theatre); Botticelli in the Fire (Hampstead Theatre); Red Dust Road (National Theatre of Scotland); Richard III (Headlong); The Convert and The Christians (Gate Theatre); After Independence (Arcola Theatre); The Merchant of Venice (Shakespeare’s Globe); Widowers’ Houses (Orange Tree Theatre); Othello (Riverside Studios); The Comedy of Errors (Shakespeare’s Globe); The Epic Adventure of Nhamo (UK Tour); A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Noel Coward Theatre).
Television credits include: Get Millie Back (Channel 4/HBO); McDonald and Dodds (ITV); Lincoln (History Channel); The Lazarus Project (Sky); Blitz, Enterprice, Eastenders and Doctor Who (BBC).
Completing the cast are Jessica Alade (Lappet), Omar Bynon (Careless), John Dougall (Rowley), Riess Fennell (Bill), Emily Houghton (Mrs Candour), Yasemin Junqueira (Moppet), David Mara (Trip), Tadeo Martinez (Snake), Shazia Nicholls (Morehouse) David Partridge (Sir Harry Bumper) Jason Thorpe (Crabtree) and Patrick Walshe McBride (Sir Benjamin Backbite).
Full actor and creative bios can be seen here.
Joining Tinuke on the creative team are Set and Costume Designer Alex Lowde, Lighting Designer Oliver Fenwick, Composer D.J Walde, Sound Designer Max Pappenheim, Movement Director Ingrid Mackinnon, Video Designer Ravi Deepres, Dramaturg Jude Christian and Casting Director Matthew Dewsbury CDG.
The School for Scandal (2 July – 6 September) plays in repertoire with The Merry Wives of Windsor, with some of the cast appearing in both shows.
For media enquiries, please contact: Armani Ur-Rub (Senior Publicist) Email: armani.ur-rub@rsc.org.uk
LISTINGS INFORMATION
The School for Scandal
Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon
In repertoire Tuesday 2 July – Friday 6 September
Press Night: Tuesday 9 July, 7pm
Audio Described performances: Saturday 20 July, 1.15pm & Friday 23 August, 7.15pm
Chilled and Captioned performance: Saturday 10 August, 1.15pm
Chilled and Handheld Captioned performance: Thursday 15 August, 1.15pm
Handheld Captioned performance: Saturday 31 August, 1.15pm
After Shakespeare but long before Bridgerton, there was The School for Scandal, Sheridan’s brilliantly biting comedy of manners in five acts. This new production — styled to the nines with period flair — promises an exuberant feast of big wigs and even bigger laughs.
1770s London, where the aristocracy’s morals have plunged lower than the necklines on the women’s gowns. The vicious Lady Sneerwell enjoys ruining reputations for pleasure, and her latest target is the young bachelor Charles Surface - why should this pretentious little rake inherit his uncle’s fortune? Together with Charles’ conniving brother Joseph, Sneerwell orchestrates an elaborate scheme of intrigue and infidelity that’s sure to ruffle all the right feathers — hopefully.
NOTES TO EDITORS
The RSC is supported using public funding by Arts Council England
The work of the RSC is supported by the Culture Recovery Fund
The RSC is generously supported by RSC America
With thanks to Season Supporters Miranda Curtis CMG and Backstage Trust
RSC £10 Tickets for 14-25s supported by TikTok
The RSC Acting Companies are generously supported by The Gatsby Charitable Foundation
Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC)
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