Deborah Warner's fresh take on Sheridan's The School For Scandal imbues this scorching comedy with contemporary resonance as our own celebrity-obsessed culture collides with the gossip-ridden, highfashion world of eighteenth-century London.

From the salon to the catwalk, Warner creates a highly charged, visually inventive and sexually ravenous world with more than a nudge towards today's cocaine-driven clubland. This full-blown theatrical explosion comes from the director whose recent work has pushed the frontiers of such masterpieces as Mother Courage, Messiah and The Waste Land.

By Richard Brinsley Sheridan

Performances
11 May – 18 Jun 2011
Barbican Theatre
Performance times: 7.15pm (2.15pm on 21 & 28 May and 4,11,18 Jun)
No performances on 6 or 13 Jun

Running time: 3hrs 15mins including 20min interval
Captioned performance: 7 Jun, 7.15pm
Audio described performance: 11 Jun, 2.15pm

World Premiere

Read Deborah Warner's Guardian piece on The School for Scandal

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Deborah Warner is one of the most prolific British directors working today.

Credits include Mother Courage and Her Children (National Theatre) and Messiah (ENO). Her production of Happy Days (National Theatre) toured internationally as did The Waste Land (Wilton's Music Hall).

Other theatre credits include: Hedda Gabler (Abbey Theatre, Dublin/Playhouse Theatre, London) which won an Olivier award for Direction and Production, Medea (Abbey Theatre, Dublin/Queens Theatre, London/US tour and Broadway) which won an Evening Standard Award for Direction, three Tony nominations and two Obies, Titus Andronicus (RSC) which won Olivier and Evening Standard awards for Direction, King John and Electra (RSC).

Opera credits include: Wozzeck (Opera North), Don Giovanni and Fidelio (Glyndebourne), The Turn of the Screw (Royal Opera House ) which won Evening Standard and South Bank Show awards and Death in Venice ( ENO and La Monnaie, Brussels).

Warner was awarded the Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Government in 1992, L'Officier des Arts et des Lettres in 2000 and was created a CBE in the 2006 Queen's 80th Birthday Honours.

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Anthony Mark Barrow
(Servant)

Anthony Mark Barrow has appeared in Follow (Company of Angels, Los Angeles), Mother Courage and her Children, The Power Book (National Theatre), Troilus and Cressida, Julius Caesar (Barbican), You Can’t Take It With You (Southwark Playhouse), Baghdad Othello (The Tricycle), The Wedding Dance (Liverpool Everyman), One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (Clwyd Theatr), Glow (Contact Theatre), Mother Clap’s Molly House (Aldwych Theatre), Lady Salsa (Drury Lane), Lettice and Lovage (Alexander Theatre), The Tempest and Macbeth (Edinburgh International Festival). On television he has appeared in EastEnders, The Inspector Lynley Mysteries, Murder in Mind, Oscar Charlie, Holby City, Down to Earth, A-Z of Politics, The Message and New Street Law. His film credits include Snow, Room 712, Trace, Psychi, Plato’s Breaking Point and Virtuality while his radio work includes Silver Street. He trained at the Central School of Speech & Drama.

Leo Bill
(Charles Surface)

Leo Bill has appeared in Beautiful Thing (Sound Theatre, Leicester Square), The Reporter, The Hothouse, The Observer, Pains of Youth (National Theatre), Posh (Royal Court) and The Glass Menagerie (Young Vic). On television he has appeared in Ashes to Ashes, Lead Balloon, Home Time, Sense & Sensibility, Crime and Punishment, Spooks, Eroica and the BBC’s modern retelling of The Canterbury Tales. His film credits include 28 Days Later, Two Men Went to War, Vera Drake and The Living and the Dead, for which he won the Best Actor Award at the Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas. He has also starred in Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland, Me and Orson Welles and is appearing in David Fincher’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. He trained at RADA.

Laura Caldow
(Maid)

Laura Caldow has appeared in The Most Incredible Thing (Sadler’s Wells), The Bacchae (Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester), Pleasure’s Progress, Goldberg – The Brandstrup-Rojo Project, The Thief of Baghdad, Faeries, Pinocchio (Royal Opera House ROH2), The Nature of Things (The Place), 120 Birds (Dance Base/Edinburgh Festival Fringe), Hermès Gala (Musée de la Chasse, Paris), The Fairy Queen (Glyndebourne/Théâtre National de l’Opéra-Comique, Paris/Théâtre de Caen/BAM Howard Gilman Opera House, New York), Funny Bones (British Dance Edition), Messiah (ENO), DanSense (Patrick Centre, Birmingham), Anomalous Creatures, Marjorie’s World Unhinged (Tilted Productions), Le Sacre du Printemps, Lenk deinen Schritt engelwärts, The Language of Walls (Oldenburg Staatstheater) and Wahllos (Dock 11, Berlin). Her film credits include Boudicca and Mrs Henderson Presents. She trained at the Merce Cunningham Studio and Central School of Ballet.

Adam Gillen
(Moses)

Adam Gillen has appeared in The Door Never Closes (Almeida Theatre), For King and Country (UK tour), A Taste of Honey (Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester), Proper Clever (Liverpool Playhouse), War and Peace (Royal Court/Latitude Festival), The Good Soul of Szechuan (Young Vic), The Lion’s Mouth (Royal Court) and The Five Wives of Maurice Pinder (National Theatre). On television he has appeared in This is Jinsy, Benidorm, Just William, The Gemma Factor, The Sarah Jane Adventures and Oliver Twist. His film credits include Age of Heroes, 4,3,2,1 and Hippie Hippie Shake. Gillen trained at RADA.

Cara Horgan
(Maria)

Cara Horgan has appeared in Far Away (Bristol Old Vic), Pains of Youth (National Theatre), The House of Special Purpose (Minerva, Chichester) and Hedda Gabler (Gate). On television she has appeared in Law and Order, Waking the Dead, Lewis, Ladies and Gentlemen, Peep Show, Silent Witness, Fallen Angel, Jane Eyre, Green Wing, The Romantics, Afterlife and The Rotters’ Club. Her film credits include The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, The Libertine and Hotel Infinity.

Alan Howard
(Sir Peter Teazle)

Alan Howard made his stage debut in Major Barbara at the Belgrade Theatre in Coventry in 1958. He has since appeared in over 30 productions at the RSC including A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Hamlet, Henry V, Henry Vl, Coriolanus, Antony and Cleopatra, Richard ll, Richard lll, The Forest, Good, Henry lV Parts l & ll, The Bewitched, Doctor Faustus, Troilus and Cressida, The Revenger’s Tragedy and The Hollow Crown. At the National Theatre he has appeared in The Heiress, Flight, Oedipus Rex, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, La Grande Magia, Les Parents Terribles, Macbeth, Kings, Pygmalion and Oedipus. Other theatre work includes King Lear, Waiting for Godot (The Old Vic), Lulu, The Play About The Baby (Almeida) and Gates of Gold (Gate Theatre, Dublin). On television he has appeared in Foyle’s War, Death in Holy Orders, NCS Manhunt, David Copperfield, Midsomer Murders, A Perfect Spy and Coriolanus. His film credits include The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover, Soup, The Secret Rapture, Dakota Road, The Return of the Musketeers, Strapless and Oxford Blues.

Will Joseph Irvine
(Gentleman)

Will Joseph Irvine has appeared in Spokesong (Rough Magic), Anna Karenina (Gate Theatre, Dublin), Myrmidons (Ouroboros Theatre Ireland), The Waiting Room (Kabosh), Hamlet (Second Age), After The End (Prime Cut Productions), The Last Days of Judas Iscariot (Making Strange), The Colleen Bawn (Project Arts Centre/Civic Theatre/Bedrock Productions), Love and Money (Hatch), Hue & Cry (Tall Tales) and Caligula (Dublin Theatre Festival). He most recently performed in Moment (Bush Theatre). Irvine has also created work as a writer and deviser including Connected, This Is Not A Drill, Ways of Making You Talk and The Final Words of Thomas Russell (West Belfast Festival). His film and television credits include The Alarms (Caboom), The Clinic (RTÉ) and The Tudors (Showtime). He trained at Trinity College Dublin.

Stephen Kennedy
(Crabtree)

Stephen Kennedy has appeared in Elegy for Young Lovers (ENO/Young Vic), Mother Courage and her Children, England People Very Nice, Dido, Queen of Carthage, Waves, Women of Troy (National Theatre), Shadows, Measure for Measure (RSC), Forty Winks, Loyal Women, The Force of Change (Royal Court), Juno and the Paycock (Donmar Warehouse), Away Alone, On the Outside/On the Inside, The Winter Thief, Hamlet (Abbey Theatre, Dublin), Phaedra (Gate Theatre, Dublin), The Belfry (Druid Theatre Company) and Shoot the Crow (Prime Cut, Belfast). He has also performed in Cyrano de Bergerac, The Birthday Party (Bristol Old Vic), Tamburlaine (Bristol Old Vic/Barbican/Young Vic), Popcorn (Liverpool Playhouse), Comedians, The Contractor (Oxford Stage Company), Translations (Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh), The Lunatic Queen (Riverside Studios) and The Agent (Old Red Lion Theatre/Trafalgar Studios). On television he has appeared in Holby City, A Touch of Frost, Doctors, The Bill, Casualty, Making Waves, The Vice, On Home Ground, Shockers: Parent’s Night, Ballykissangel, The Hanging Gale and The Snapper. His film credits include The Agent, Notes on a Scandal, Braveheart and Nothing Personal.

Joseph Kloska
(Careless)

Joseph Kloska has appeared in The Comedy of Errors (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre), Three Sisters (Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester), Fast Labour (West Yorkshire Playhouse/Hampstead Theatre) and The Vertical Hour (Royal Court). On television he has appeared in Foyle’s War, Pete Versus Life, Lark Rise to Candleford and The Bill. His film credits include Jane Eyre, Made in Dagenham, Happy-Go-Lucky and Blooded. Kloska makes regular radio appearances for the BBC. He trained at RADA where his credits included The Life of Timon of Athens, Widows, The Good Soldier, Assassins, Sing Yer Heart Out for the Lads and The Man of Mode.

Christopher Logan
(Trip)

Christopher Logan has appeared in The Picture (Salisbury Playhouse), The Comedy of Errors (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre), Philadelphia, Here I Come (Dublin’s Gaiety Theatre), The Rivals (Southwark Playhouse), The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby (Chichester Festival Theatre/West End), Pravda (Chichester Festival Theatre/Birmingham Rep), The Quare Fellow (Oxford Stage Company) and Twelfth Night (Theatre Royal Plymouth). On television he has appeared in Kerching! His film credits include Mrs Henderson Presents, Esther Khan and The Magic Flute. Logan trained at RADA.

Aidan McArdle
(Joseph Surface)

Aidan McArdle has appeared in The White Devil (Menier Chocolate Factory), There Came a Gypsy Riding (Almeida Theatre), The Shadow of a Gunman (The Tricycle), Under the Curse, The Decameron (Gate), Great Expectations (Bristol Old Vic), A Prayer for Owen Meaney (National Theatre), Stairs to the Roof (Minerva, Chichester), Richard lll, Henry Vl, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Othello, Antony and Cleopatra (RSC), Yard (Bush Theatre), Shopping and Fucking (Out of Joint), The Beauty Queen of Leenane (Druid Theatre Company/Royal Court), Flight into Egypt (Hampstead Theatre), The Hamlet Project, The Last Apache Reunion, The Honey Spike, On the Outside/On the Inside and The Iceman Cometh (Abbey Theatre Company). On television he has appeared in Chasing Leprechauns, The Reckoning, Garrow’s Law (Regular, Series One and Two), Imagine (Van Gogh), Beautiful People (Regular, Series One and Two), Secret Diary of a Call Girl, Green, Perfect Day, Perfect Day: The Millennium, Rough Diamond, Death Becomes Him, Afterlife, Jane Eyre, Bad Crowd, Marple: Sleeping Murder, All About George, Footprints in the Snow, E=mc2, No Angels, Any Time Now and Judas & Jesus. His film credits include Metamorphosis, Killing Bono, Me and Orson Welles, The Duchess, Morris: A Life With Bells On, Riot at the Rite, Not Only But Always and Ella Enchanted.

John McEnery
(Rowley)

John McEnery has appeared in The Master Builder, Wallenstein (Minerva, Chichester), I’ll Be the Devil (RSC/The Tricycle), Pericles, The Merchant of Venice, Coriolanus, Edward ll, Richard ll, King Lear (Shakespeare’s Globe), Luminosity, Curse of the Starving Class, The Changeling, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Twelfth Night, The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby (RSC), Love’s Labour’s Lost, As You Like It, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, Richard ll and The Machine Wreckers (National Theatre). He has also performed in Ghosts (Hampstead Theatre), Too Good to Be True, Waiting for Godot (Oxford Playhouse), Winter Dances (Royal Court), The Night of the Iguana (Canada), My Brother’s Keeper (Greenwich Theatre), Largo Desolato (Bristol Old Vic/Hong Kong), Naked Pirandello (Old Red Lion Theatre), A Touch of the Poet (Young Vic/Comedy Theatre), As You Like It (The Old Vic) and The Flag (Moving Theatre Company). On television he has appeared in New Tricks, Wallander, Silent Witness, The Bill, Dalziel and Pascoe, Peak Practice, The Scarlet Pimpernel, The Broker’s Man, Tess of the D’Urbervilles, Wycliffe, Chillers, The Buddha of Suburbia, Doctor Finlay, Thacker, Boon, Poirot, Precious Bane, Codename: Kyril, Hard Cases and C.A.T.S. Eyes. His film credits include The Plot to Kill Hitler, Merlin, When Saturday Comes, Black Beauty, Hamlet, Little Dorrit, The Duellists, Schizo, Galileo, The Land That Time Forgot, Fury, Little Malcolm and His Struggle Against the Eunuchs, Nicholas and Alexandra, Le Bateau sur l’herbe, Bartleby and Romeo and Juliet.

Harry Melling
(Sir Benjamin Backbite)

Harry Melling has performed in Mother Courage and her Children, Women Beware Women (National Theatre) and Coalition: Bedrooms, Dens and Other Forms of Magic (Theatre 503). His television credits include Just William, Merlin and Stephen Poliakoff’s Friends and Crocodiles. He plays Dudley Dursley in five of the Harry Potter films and has appeared in the short film, Felicity. He trained at LAMDA.

Katherine Parkinson
(Lady Teazle)

Katherine Parkinson has appeared in Season’s Greetings (National Theatre), Cock, The Seagull (Royal Court), The Lightning Play (Almeida Theatre), Other Hands, Flush (Soho Theatre), The Unthinkable (Sheffield Crucible Studio), Cigarettes and Chocolate (King’s Head Theatre), The Riot Act, The Increased Difficulty of Concentration (Gate), Camille (Lyric Hammersmith), Frame 312 (Donmar Warehouse), Deep Throat: Live on Stage (Assembly Rooms, Edinburgh) and The Age of Consent (Bush Theatre/Edinburgh). On television she has appeared in Whites, The Great Outdoors, The Old Guys, The IT Crowd, Psychoville, Doc Martin, Jonathan Creek: The Grinning Man, Christmas at the Riviera, Katy Brand’s Big Ass Show, Extras, Ahead of the Class and Dirty Filthy Love. Parkinson won Best Actress at the 2009 British Comedy Awards for The IT Crowd and has just been nominated for a BAFTA for Best Female Performance in a Comedy Role for the same show. Her film credits include St Trinian’s 2: The Legend of Fritton’s Gold, The Boat That Rocked, Easy Virtue and How to Lose Friends & Alienate People.

Vicky Pepperdine
(Mrs Candour)

Vicki Pepperdine has performed in Amongst Friends (Hampstead Theatre), A Small Family Business (Chichester Festival Theatre), Cause Célèbre (Lyric Hammersmith), Beauty and the Beast (Young Vic), Edward ll with Eddie Izzard (Leicester Haymarket), The Day After Tomorrow (National Theatre), The Winter’s Tale (Complicite), The Atheist’s Tragedy, Peter Pan, The Threepenny Opera and Cider with Rosie (Birmingham Rep). She co-writes and stars alongside Jo Brand and Joanna Scanlan in the award-winning Getting On (BBC 4). On television her appearances include roles in New Tricks, Alan Partridge, Life of Riley, Holby City, Lead Balloon, Saxondale, Two Pints of Lager, The Only Boy for Me, Doc Martin, My Family, Green Wing, Nighty Night, Grass, Mr Charity, Los Dos Bros, People Like Us and Vanity Fair. Her television film credits include The Only Boy For Me, Gypsy Woman, Pinochet in Suburbia and Agatha Christie: A Life in Pictures while her film credits include Blackball and Thunderpants. Online she is in Alan Partridge’s Mid Morning Matters and she also appears regularly on BBC Radio 4. She co-wrote and starred in four series of The Hudson and Pepperdine Show and, more recently, has been in Ed Reardon’s Week, Beauty of Britain, The News at Bedtime and Gulliver’s Travels.

Gary Sefton
(Snake / Sir Toby Bumper)

Gary Sefton has appeared in Mother Courage and her Children, Widowers’ Houses (National Theatre), Beauty and the Beast (RSC), Julius Caesar, Beauty and the Beast (Young Vic), The Duchess of Malfi (Prodigal Theatre Company), The Hunchback of Notre Dame, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Three Musketeers (The Dukes, Lancaster), Messiah (Three Mills Studio), Inconceivable (West Yorkshire Playhouse), Frogs (Nottingham Playhouse), Rhinoceros (Riverside Studios), Bad Company (Bush Theatre), Cigarettes and Chocolate, Selling Out, Bye Bye Blues, Parting Shots, Mr A’s Amazing Maze Plays (Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough), The Chimes, The Importance of Being Earnest, The Tempest (Bristol Old Vic) and Metamorphosis (Birmingham Rep). On television he has appeared in Criminal Justice, He Kills Coppers, A Touch of Frost, Casualty, Doctors, Open Wide, State of Play, Spooks, Heartbeat, Holby City, The Kidnap, How Do You Want Me?, Expert Witness, The Bill, Crocodile Shoes, Ghosts, Out of the Blue, Peak Practice and The Cinder Path. His film credits include Faintheart, Saving Private Ryan, Elephant Juice, Full Frontal, Fast Food, Noon Sharp and Beauty.

John Shrapnel
(Sir Oliver Surface)

John Shrapnel has appeared in An Enemy of the People (Sheffield Crucible), Phèdre (National Theatre/Epidaurus/Washington), King Lear (Liverpool Everyman/Young Vic), Julius Caesar (Barbican/European tour), South Pacific (National Theatre), The Hothouse (Chichester Festival Theatre/West End), Hamlet, The Dybbuk, The Thebans, Measure for Measure, Temptation and The Archbishop’s Ceiling (RSC). On television he has appeared in Waking the Dead, New Tricks, Apparitions, The Palace, The Inspector Lynley Mysteries, Midsomer Murders, Hornblower, Inspector Morse, Jonathan Creek, Foyle’s War, Six Faces of Steve Coogan, Bodyguards, Between the Lines, GBH, Blackeyes, The Woman in White, Black Easter, Professional Foul, King Lear, Troilus and Cressida, Timon of Athens, Edward and Mrs Simpson and Elizabeth R. His film credits include The Awakening, The Duchess, Alien Autopsy, Elizabeth: The Golden Age, Shadow of the Sword, Troy, K-19 The Widowmaker, Gladiator, The Body, Notting Hill, Sparkle, Mirrors, 101 Dalmatians, Personal Services and Nicholas and Alexandra.

Jonathan Delaney Tynan
(Gentleman)

Jonathan Delaney Tynan has appeared in Julius Caesar, Romeo and Juliet (Abbey Theatre, Dublin), 84 Charing Cross Road (Andrews Lane Theatre, Dublin), Jane Eyre (City Theatre Dublin), An Baile’s Strand (Peacock Theatre, Dublin), Three Birds Alighting on a Field (Gateway Theatre), The Red Thread (The Space, Dundee), Flat Three (Byre Theatre, St Andrews) and The Pearl (Footsbarn Rep). His film and television credits include The Tudors (Showtime), This is Nitelive (RTÉ), Making the Cut (RTÉ), Ella Enchanted (Disney), Enemies Closer (DLCAD) and Moonglow (Gateway Films). He trained at Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh.

Miles Yekinni
(Servant)

Miles Yekinni has appeared in The Frontline (Shakespeare’s Globe) and 4 Lives (Red Gate Theatre). He trained at the Central School of Speech & Drama where he performed in Europe, King Lear, Love’s Last Shift, No Place Like Home and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. He has appeared in a feature film of Julius Caesar and a short film, Darius.

Matilda Ziegler
(Lady Sneerwell)

Matilda Ziegler has appeared in Twelfth Night (RSC), The Marquis of Keith (Gate), Mr Bean (Pola Jones Tour), Self Catering (Cockpit Theatre), Judgement Day (Old Red Lion Theatre), Crimes of the Heart (Liverpool Playhouse), Women Laughing (Royal Court), Inadmissible Evidence, Machinal, Volpone, Look Back in Anger (National Theatre), The Lady from the Sea (Lyric Hammersmith), An Inspector Calls (Aldwych Theatre/National Theatre/Australian tour), The Memory of Water, Featuring Loretta (Hampstead Theatre), As You Like It, King Lear (Oxford Stage Company), The Constant Wife, The Recruiting Officer (Clwyd Theatr) and The Great Pretenders (Gate/tour). On television she has appeared in Lark Rise to Candleford, Home, Freaky Farleys, Outnumbered, Lead Balloon, The Inspector Lynley Mysteries, If Obesity, Sex Traffic, Family Business, The Plot to Kill Hitler, Holby, Swiss Toni, Armadillo, Mr Bean, The Bill, My Good Friend, Against All Odds, In Suspicious Circumstances, As You Like It, Casualty, An Unsuitable Job for a Woman, Mr White Goes to Westminster, Smitten, Harbour Lights, Where the Heart Is, Too Much Sun and EastEnders. Her film credits include Mr Bean, Decadence and Jilting Joe. She is currently working on City Slacker, a project for Highwire Films.

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11 & 12 Jun
Bite Weekend Workout
The School for Scandal
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