Schooled in shenanigans

He could drink Lord Byron under the table. He cheered on the French Revolution. And the era’s pundits called him “the one honest man in politics.” Richard Brinsley Sheridan was one of those Irishmen with an excess of charisma and the brains to back it up.

Sheridan’s most celebrated comedy, “The School for Scandal,” now at the Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum, is a 1777 morality tale that very much enjoys cake while simultaneously decrying its saturated fats and high calorie count.

In a London driven by a 24-hour-gossip cycle, two brothers thrive on intrigue and unlimited credit. While the outwardly upstanding Joseph Surface (Mark Lewis) secretly romances Lady Teazle (Willow Geer), Charles Surface (Jeff Wiesen) pines for Maria (Emily Bridges) yet continues to play the libertine. When the boys’ uncle, Sir Oliver (Tim Halligan) returns from a long sojourn in the East, he creates a series of tests to see which nephew deserves the family fortune.

Then there’s the elderly Sir Peter Teazle (Franc Ross), who can’t decide whether to spoil or strangle his much-younger wife, who grew up in the country and makes up for lost time by amassing a closet even larger than Carrie Bradshaw’s. Her hat collection alone sends Sir Peter into fits of apoplexy. He protests, but to no avail. “If you wanted authority,” reasons his sentiment-free bride, “you should have adopted me, not married me.”

Director Ellen Geer and her designers scatter the stage with clusters of gilded salons: the contrast between the elegant furniture and the rough hewn boards of the wooden stage underscores the tension between social niceties and the blunt power struggles they conceal. (The chandelier hanging from a tree adds wit as well.)

It’s an ideal playground for the cast, who clearly relish the chance to play drawing-room dress up. Fans snap, screens tremble and schooners sail atop vertical wigs of eye-popping colors that call to mind Cheetos, cotton candy and other dental threats. In Sheridan’s world, identity is performance, character is costume: Fittingly, this production is bodice-high in brocades, lace and raw silk, courtesy of Shon LeBlanc and Valentino’s Costumes.

Sheridan can be as arch as a lady’s painted eyebrow; the only way to navigate his elaborate witticisms is to deliver them without double takes. Some of the cast embellishes, which neither aids the play’s momentum nor its humor; others, like Susan Angelo’s Lady Sneerwell and Lewis’ Joseph, serve up epigrams with admirable directness. And as Sir Peter, flummoxed by his shopaholic spouse, Ross’ simplicity is the endearing center of the play. His addiction to the marriage’s “daily jangle” gives that subplot a deliciously modern feel.

“School” traipses along with unhurried conviction in its own charm. By playing things primarily for laughs, Theatricum Botanicum doesn’t find much in the way of stakes, and the evening goes on a bit longer than it should. A little more shading of character, even in a romp like “School,” would have imbued Sheridan’s high jinks with much-needed surprise. Still, this is bold, celebratory production of a classic comedy of manners. If it tells one too many anecdotes, it’s earned the privilege of overstaying its welcome.

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‘The School for Scandal’

Where: Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum, 1419 N. Topanga Canyon Blvd., Topanga

When: 8 p.m. Friday and Aug. 22; 4 p.m. Aug. 16, Sept. 6, 13, and 27; 8 p.m. Saturday and July 12 and 19; 7:30 p.m. July 27, Aug. 3, 17, 31, Sept. 21

Ends: Sept. 27

Price: $8 to $28

Contact: (310) 455-3723

Running time: 2 hours, 35 minutes