Richard Brinsley Sheridan
The School for Scandal
"The School for Scandal" by Richard Brinsley Sheridan is a comedy of manners first performed in 1777. In fashionable London society, gossip-mongers spread malicious rumors while hidden motives and false reputations abound. Two brothers compete for the same heiress, though one is deemed respectable while the other is considered a wastrel. Meanwhile, their wealthy uncle returns from abroad in disguise to test their true characters. Marriages strain, scandals brew, and nothing is quite as it seems in this world of wit and deception.