The text of this edition is transcribed from that of George Nettleton, with additions or deletions set off in brackets. Also included are the dedicatory 'Portrait Addressed to Mrs Crewe', Garrick's 'Prologue', and G Colman's 'Epilogue'. Edited by John Loftis, this edition of The School for Scandal for performance and study also includes an introduction, a list of principal dates in the life of Richard Brinsley Sheridan, and a selected bibliography.

Seminar paper from the year 2004 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 2,0, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (Institut für Anglistik), course: Seminar, language: English, abstract: This paper shall analyse Richard Brinsley Sheridan`s play “The School for Scandal”. This drama was first performed in 1776 in London’s Drury Lane Theatre, and was a cultural part of the colonization process in India. The aim of the first chapter is to provide some background information about Sheridan and his time, and also serves to explain the role which the concept of the sentimental comedy played during the time it was first performed in London. The main focus here, however, is to explore the differences as well as the comparable elements with other comedy genres. The second chapter deals with the production of “The School for Scandal” which was first performed in Calcutta in 1777. Here it seem appropriate to analise the motives behind the exportation of British culture into the colony and to find out more about the commercial as well as the cultural aspects. An important source of information in reference to this production is the Folger manuscript; a handwritten copy of the play complete with stage directions, which had been used at the New Playhouse in Calcutta. It is necessary to mention here that this Folger manuscript “recovered” by Mita Choudhury, whose essay about the production of “The School for Scandal” is the main source for the second part of this paper. The aim of this chapter however, is not to summarise her work, but rather to approach her argumentation critically. The last part of the paper deals with the question whether or not there is a connection between the play and the process of colonialism in Calcutta in terms of the production itself and its content. It also examines the part which colonialism plays within the drama, with regards to its moral and financial aspects.

“The Contrast“, which premiered at New York City's John Street Theater in 1787, was the first American play performed in public by a professional theater company. The play, written by New England-born, Harvard-educated, Royall Tyler was timely, funny, and extremely popular. When the play appeared in print in 1790, George Washington himself appeared at the head of its list of hundreds of subscribers. Reprinted here with annotated footnotes by historian Cynthia A. Kierner, Tyler’s play explores the debate over manners, morals, and cultural authority in the decades following American Revolution. Did the American colonists' rejection of monarchy in 1776 mean they should abolish all European social traditions and hierarchies? What sorts of etiquette, amusements, and fashions were appropriate and beneficial? Most important, to be a nation, did Americans need to distinguish themselves from Europeans—and, if so, how? Tyler was not the only American pondering these questions, and Kierner situates the play in its broader historical and cultural contexts. An extensive introduction provides readers with a background on life and politics in the United States in 1787, when Americans were in the midst of nation-building. The book also features a section with selections from contemporary letters, essays, novels, conduct books, and public documents, which debate issues of the era.