The intrigues of such aptly named characters as Lady Sneerwell, Sir Joseph Surface, Lady Candour and Sir Benjamin Backbite have amused theater audiences for over two centuries. They are the invention of the Irish-born playwright Richard Brinsley Sheridan, and they unfold, collide and backfire hilariously in his masterpiece. "The School for Scandal", a play still considered by many the best comedy of manners in English.It is a comedy with two plots, one involving Sir Oliver Surfaces attempts to discover the worthier of his two nephews, and the other unleashing Lady Sneerwells strategies to ensnare both nephews and the hapless Lady Teazle in her designs. Both plots converge brilliantly in the