The School for Scheming, Dion Boucicault, The Orange Tree

Orange Tree Theatre co-founder Auriol Smith directs Dion Boucicault's 1847 play, The School for Scheming. Penniless aristocrat, Claude Plantagenet (Paul Shelley), hopes his daughter Helen (Imogen Sage), learns at Mrs French's finishing school, how to land a catch which might save him. Mrs French (Sabina Franklyn) squares up to Plantagenet himself. Helen and her companions, Rose and Matilda, follow a bevy of suitors: Lord Fipley (Oliver Gomm), the would-be capitalist Perkins, aka MacDunnum (Dominic Hecht), and young blood Craven (Chris Bone). Dion Boucicault bridges the comedies between Sheridan and Wilde. He offers a delicious range of carefully balanced foils amidst the grubiness of capitalism, principle and social niceties. His dialogue is as brilliantine as when first penned, while his critique of social mores is sharply delineated. The Orange Tree's in-the-round setting fits the fast pace and presentational style of the play's numerous asides perfectly. For Smith and partner Sam Walters, who co-founded the Orange Tree in 1971, The School for Scheming is the final curtain call. What a jolly romp to go out on, and typically after 33 years, to the therapeutic sound of laughter.