Theater

“The School for Scandal”: Richard Brinsley Sheridan’s 1777 comedy receives a brisk, funny staging at the Mark Taper Forum as part of artistic director Gordon Davidson’s final season of programming. At the center are acute portrayals by a cast of 18, led by the classical actor Brian Bedford, who also directed. Sheridan built his comedy of elements long popular in Western drama: a crotchety older man unwisely married to a much younger wife, young lovers kept apart by the woman’s disapproving guardian, hidden identities and concealment behind screens. What sets his writing apart is his eye for human folly and a great gift for words.

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-- Daryl H. Miller

Ends Sunday at the Mark Taper Forum, 135 N. Grand Ave., L.A. (213) 628-2772.