Nowadays it's difficult to imagine a major scandal without accompanying television coverage. So even though the Shakespeare Theatre's production of "The School for Scandal" is basically true to its 18th-century setting, it seems perfectly fitting that one of the first images we see is a color television with a newscast blaring, and one of the last is the principals being pursued by TV reporters.
Director Joe Dowling doesn't overdo such anachronisms; he just uses them to add a modern tweak to Richard Brinsley Sheridan's comedy of bad manners. Mostly, however, the high caliber of this production stems from the hilariously keen portrayals of the major characters.
The conflict focuses on two brothers. Though Joseph Surface moves in the highest social circles and has an untarnished reputation, he is actually scheming to steal his brother's fiancee, Maria, and to seduce Lady Teazle, the wife of Maria's guardian.
In contrast, his brother, Charles, is a degenerate and a spendthrift. But far from attempting to conceal his dissipated life, Charles exults in it, taking pride in the fact that, whatever else he may be, he is not a hypocrite -- a rare quality in a society that flourishes on spreading false gossip.
As underhanded Joseph, Derek Smith gives his most manic performance since he portrayed multiple characters in "The Mystery of Irma Vep" at Center Stage a few seasons ago. Smith has only one role in "School for Scandal," but he's every bit as frantic in the famous scene in which he desperately tries to conceal Lady Teazle behind a screen in his library. Smith's whole being, and especially his face, becomes as haggard as "The Picture of Dorian Gray" when Joseph's duplicitous nature is revealed.
On the other hand, Reese Madigan's Charles starts out looking like a punk reject from "The Rocky Horror Picture Show," and his drunken, cross-dressing cronies enact a near orgy on stage. But when Charles proves that his heart is honest, Madigan assumes an aura of almost youthful innocence.
The production features a number of other fine performances, including that of Kathryn Meisle as Lady Teazle, a sweet country girl who allows herself to be misled by such fashionable two-faced scandalmongers as Mrs. Candor, a character so masterfully portrayed by Helen Carey that even an adorable lapdog fails to upstage her.
Similarly humorous are Peter Jacobson as preening Benjamin Backbite and Floyd King as obese, gouty Crabtree, a gentleman so overstuffed with pastries and gossip, he can barely lower himself into a chair.
Compared with these flamboyant characters, David Sabin would appear to have a lackluster assignment as wise, decent Sir Oliver, the Surface brothers' rich uncle, who returns after many years abroad, determined to leave his fortune to whichever nephew he deems most worthy. Sabin's solid portrayal is the ideal counterweight for the production's excesses, unlike that of Ted van Griethuysen, who is a bit too lugubrious as Lady Teazle's hoodwinked husband, Sir Peter.
The play's excesses are also comically rendered in Patricia Zipprodt's wildly elaborate costume designs -- whether the 1990s punk styles worn by Charles' peers or the ornate 1770s ostentation of Joseph's forked-tongued social set. And after all, though this production doesn't go overboard stressing the point, who's to say that one era's tastes, mores and scandals are any worse than another's?
"The School for Scandal"
L Where: Shakespeare Theatre, 450 Seventh St. N.W., Washington
When: 8 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays; 7:30 p.m. Sundays; matinees at 2 p.m. Saturdays, Sundays and Dec. 22. Through Jan. 15. No performances Dec. 25.
Tickets: $12-$45
Call: (202) 393-2700
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