A stage, film and television star will head the cast of the new production of The School For Scandal which will play at Keswick’s Theatre by the Lake next month.
Joseph Marcell, probably best-known for his role as Geoffrey the butler in the NBC sitcom The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air, will play Sir Peter Teazle in this fresh take on Richard B. Sheridan’s classic comedy of manners.
He was most recently seen in Chiwetel Ejiofor’s debut feature film, The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind. TV credits include Mammoth and I Hate You, both for the BBC, and he is soon to be seen in Candice Carty-Williams’s Queenie on Channel 4.
His prolific stage credits include Hamlet at the Young Vic with Cush Jumbo, Kathy Burke’s Lady Windermere’s Fan, extensive work with Shakespeare’s Globe including the titular role in Bill Buckhurst’s King Lear and Derek Walcott’s Omeros, as well as seasons at the Royal Shakespeare Company.
The School For Scandal also features Garmon Rhys (Out There, ITV, Gangs of London, HBO/Sky Atlantic) and Tina: The Musical, West End) as Charles Surface; Ayesha Griffiths (soon to be seen in Channel 4’s Queenie and Get Millie Black) as Maria; Emily-Jane McNeil (The Mousetrap, West End) as Lady Sneerwell; Alex Phelps (As You Like It, Shakespeare’s Globe, When Darkness Falls, Park Theatre and UK tour) as Joseph Surface; Lydea Perkins (Private Lives, The Mill At Sonning, Sense & Sensibility, Theatre By The Lake) as Lady Teazle; Tony Timberlake (Little Shop of Horrors, Storyhouse Chester, Maggie May, Leeds Playhouse, When Darkness Falls, UK Tour) as Sir Oliver; and Guy Dennys (Tilted Wig’s Around the World in 80 Days and Lady Chatterley’s Lover) as Rowley.
In the production, Sir Peter Teazle believes his young wife is sleeping with someone else. She isn’t. But she’s starting to think that if her husband believes it, she may as well give it a go. After all, if you’re going to cause a scandal, you might as well enjoy it…
The play is described as being deliciously naughty and outrageously silly and is a masterclass in social satire and the art of gossip.
The School For Scandal promises a lightning-paced evening of romance, revenge and rollicking fun that promises to leave the audience entertained, enamoured and perhaps even a little scandalised. It is directed by Seán Aydon who recently adapted and directed the national tours of The Picture of Dorian Gray and Frankenstein. He was also assistant director on the world premiere of Tom Fletcher’s The Christmasaurus at the Hammersmith Apollo.
The production is designed by Linbury Prize winner Sarah Beaton whose recent credits include The Merchant Of Venice (Sam Wanamaker / The Globe), Nineteen Gardens (Hampstead Theatre) and Wild East (Young Vic).
It will run at Theatre by the Lake from Thursday March 7 to Saturday March 16.
