Eight members of Grantham NWR and three guests visited the Rutland Open Air Theatre at Tolethorpe Hall, near Stamford, on Wednesday 20th June to see ‘The School for Scandal’ by Richard Sheridan. As is our usual custom we had a ‘bring & share’ picnic in the grounds beforehand and were favoured with warm weather and our regular favourites of coronation chicken and berry pavlova, amongst other delights. The peformance started in daylight at 7.45, but by the time it finished at 10.30pm, it was dark and somewhat cooler, but we had our rugs to keep us warm. The play was first performed in London in 1777 and was described in the programme as ‘a comedy of manners, satirising an elite society that is dominated by scandal, gossip and sexual intrigue’. As usual at Tolethorpe, the costumes were superb and the actors word perfect, but some of the scenes contained long speeches, with not a lot of action, nevertheless the actors performed with enthusiasm. We shall be back again next year, maybe to see a Shakespeare play which we have not seen for a few years.
Jane Sharp