Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751 -1816) was an Irish playwright and Whig statesman. On May 8, 1777, Sheridan directed his masterpiece, A School for Scandal, at the Drury Lane Theater. In 1780 Sheridan entered Parliament as the ally of Charles James Fox on the side of the American Colonials. The Duenna is a three act comic opera. A duenna is a chaperone who is in charge of caring for a younger person.