Clifford expresses disappointment at being denied the full pleasure of Sheridan'splay. Complaining of poor technical values and a general lack of enthusiasm, the critic feels that the play deserves better attention.

To a writer a theatre like the Royal Lyceum is a magic box full of enticing possibilities—to all of which, almost invariably, you are denied access. To an Artistic Director, on the other hand, such a place must more often feel like a black hole—with row after row of empty seats that somehow, mght after night, have got to be filled.

The theatre's understandable response to this has been to mount two classic comedies in repertory—a revival of their immensely successful production of Tartuffe in tandem with a new production of Sheridan's School for Scandal.

This opened recently to an almost uniformly hostile press, which the production did not really...