ACTRESS, director and school teacher Clancy McMullan bought a copy of R B Sheridan’s The School For Scandal so long ago that the book’s price was 99p.

She rediscovered her copy when she “hit the books” to make her pitch to direct Upstart Theatre Company’s second production in York.

“As I read it, the play just came to life,” says Clancy, who previously directed a student production of Bugsy Malone at Raincliffe School in Scarborough. Her new show will run from Tuesday to Saturday at Upstage Theatre, 41 Monkgate, York.

“At first I was thinking ‘white picket-fencing suburbia’ with all the gossip in Sheridan’s play, and then I thought it definitely could be the 1950s or 1960s in a very stylised setting, somewhere between Tim Burton’s Edward Scissorhands and Mad Men.

“Celebrity gossip and scandal are themes as pertinent today as in Sheridan’s day. Add to the mix the heady days of the 1960s and you have the perfect backdrop.”

The more Clancy read, the more she was struck by the possibilities of placing The School For Scandal in early 1960s Soho. “There was this character, Rowley, the confidante, and I thought, ‘Do you know what, this guy would be a brilliant barman, as he sizes up all the other characters brilliantly’.”

And so, scandal and gossip now fuel the lives of the Barton Club’s members and hangers-on with Clancy herself in the role of Rowley. Yes, you read that correctly: Rowley is being played by a woman.

“As time went by, I was looking at the ratio of male/female characters in the plot, and having decided to set all the action in a Soho club, I thought, ‘why not have a bar manageress, rather than a bar manager?’,” says Clancy.

“After all, Sheridan wrote seven versions of the play, and if he’s going to play with it, why not me too? Having Rowley as a female makes the relationship with reformed bachelor Sir Peter Teazle more interesting, in her capacity as his confidante, and her relationship with incorrigible Charles Surface becomes more mutual.”

Clancy explains her decision to focus the play on one setting only: a Soho club designed by Catherine Dawn, the designer for York Shakespeare Project’s Measure For Measure production last December.

“A lot of the play hinges on gossip and people’s place in society, so there’s a clear divide between who’s a member and who’s a hanger-on. There are conversations that are meant to be private but instead they’re played across the bar room,” says Clancy. “We also have the Sneerwell chair, where Lady Sneerwell sits centre stage, sending out her minions to spread the gossip.”

Newspapers will play their part in Clancy’s production.

“We talked about how we could bring the play up to date, and within Sheridan’s text, scandal sheets are mentioned and Sir Peter and Lady Teazle are mentioned in those rags, so we decided to have people in the bar reading newspapers – or hiding behind them to listen in,” she says.

Picking through the bones of the play, Clancy concludes that Sheridan’s theme is the need to be true to yourself and honest: advice that is ever more pertinent in our age of celebrity obsession and gossip on the internet and in magazines such as Heat.

“Being a teacher, I hear it being talked about all the time,” says Clancy.

• Tickets for the 7.30pm evening performances and next Saturday’s 2.30pm matinee cost £11 on 01904 674675 or 07525 019053 or at upstart.ticketsource.co.uk