The School for Scandal

In performance it can be a trifle. As an academic, it's certainly part of the canon. It's tough to differentiate, but the academic canon of theatre and the performative canon are separate things and can both shift over time.

A rule of thumb to judge performative canon is to see how many times it has not only been revived and presented, but filmed, adapted or reinterpreted. A piece that the world insists on having again and again, in different forms and styles becomes more canonical than a piece which exists solely in itself, even if that piece is academically considered a finer work. Consider the way "The Way Of The World" is a major piece studied as the peak of restoration and Post-Restoration comedy, but not an essential piece in the performative canon, and also how rarely it has been adapted, filmed or reconceived.

I agree whole heartedly. They are worth studying academically, but it would have to be pretty extraordinary to hold water on a b'way stage.

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I'd typically agree to that timeline, as well. There are relatively few "timeless" comedies. But I do think Moliere holds up pretty well, too, depending on the translation.

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My alma mater did "The Frogs," the original Greek play in its entirety in a faithful translation last year. It was painful. The genuinely funny moments were lost among a series of shout-outs to people who would have been in the audience at the original performance, who have not lasted through history. Topical humor is the hardest humor in the world to make eternal.

In THE SCHOOL FOR SCANDAL I liked so much, all the laughs came from action and character. Too often, because the jokes in classic comedy don't automatically score with modern audiences, we get actors playing "here I am being funny".

To which my silent response is always, "No, you're not."