All plays are written in order to be performed and in this sense, The School for Scandal is one of the best examples in order to show it.

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All plays are written in order to be performed and in this sense, The School for Scandal is one of the best examples in order to show it.

The play was performed for the first time in 1777 at Drury Lane Theatre, where Sheridan worked as a manager, after Garrick´s retirement in 1776, together with Thomas King, the actor that played the role of Sir Peter Teazle in the first performance of The School for Scandal.

The Drury Lane was one of the most important theatres of that time. This engraving shows the theatre after it was remodeled and redecorated in 1775, a few years before The School for Scandal was performed. The Drury Lane suffered a series of changes and remodelations to fit into the new king of theatre of the late Eighteenth century. All these advantages conditioned the text, so it is important to study them in detail.

Although at that time the apron was disappearing, establishing more distance with the audience, due to Wren´s proscenium, the Drury Lane had an apron or forestage projected about twelve feet into the auditorium. It was retained because of the advantages in greter audiability and closer intimacy with the public. It also kept the ´aside´ effective.

This print belongs to the screen scene (act IV, scene iii) and it shows the screen itself on the curtain-line, Joseph near the proscenium door and Sir Peter and Charles on the curtain-line, so it is easy to see that there was still a proximity with the audience.

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Another important element regarding the stage is the proscenium door. There were two of them, each adjoining the stage boxes. These doors were used for actors to make their entries and exit. The use of the proscenium doors forced the continuacion of the apron in order that the characters´ arrivals or departures should not be delayed by a long walk towards or from the place in which the others were concentrated. It was not necessary for the doors to be shut all the time as it is show in the previous  print, where the door on the right is ...

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