Teechers

Written by John Godber and directed by Karen Blunden

A Henfield Theatre Company - Youth Group presentation

CAST

Alex Carter

Luke Punt

Korey Grierson

Robyn Thomas

Niamh Williams

Orla Williams

Perfomance dates - 24th and 25th February 2023 at The Henfield Hall. Tickets for the two evening perfomances included a "School Dinner"!

Written in 1984, sadly very little has changed in John Godber's political message and the role of the arts in education today. "Teechers" is essentially a comedy. but is actually only funny because it is true. Stripped back to the bare bones of live theatre, with multi role playing central to the production. The six young adults played a variety of over 20 characters. Karen Blunden the director, stated that her main resource was the imagination of the actors....and following that the imagination of the audience.

 

NODA REVIEW

Group: Henfield Theatre Company

Show: Teechers

Venue: Henfield Hall, Henfield

Date: 25 February 2023

Director: Karen Blunden

Assistant Director: Mandy Ainsworth

 

John Godber’s “Teechers” tells the story of a new idealistic drama teacher: Mr Nixon, over the course of a year of joining a state comprehensive school, meeting the other staff, and the students, who don’t value themselves let alone education, and have no time for drama. It’s actually quite some feat of writing to turn this into a comedy that’s so hilarious in places the audience literally guffaw. And the point is, it’s not just the writing, it’s the performances of these six young actors in beautiful multi-rolling ensemble work: Luke Punt, Robyn Thomas, Alex Carter, Órla Williams, Niamh Williams and Korey Grierson that make it so funny and moving.

Right from entering the venue the scene is set by a fierce and fun greeting from the “headmaster” (lovely touch from Trevor Hodgson, one of the Production Managers) in a cape, mortar board and threatening cane. The programme is designed as if written in chalk on a blackboard which goes well with the theme. There is also the genius idea of making this “dinner theatre” – with a twist: school dinners, which the audience queued for, very reminiscent of being at school although the main and the pudding (no pink custard) was delicious and not like school dinners many of us remember! Whoever thought this up needs to be congratulated.

Written in 1984 as a satire on an education system with an unfair spectrum from those with money and influence at one end and ‘deprived’ schools with young people running amok and teachers with crushed spirits at the other: this is perhaps even more relevant today. The play takes you through the gamut of all the emotions and goes from incredibly funny to sad and isolating and tragic, with everything in between. It’s a marvel to think the original play was written for three adult actors multi-rolling: this works so well with six people instead as much of this is so very physical it makes much more creative pictures for the audience.

What is really quite astonishing about this production is how laid bare it is, and how good these actors have to be to hold the attention of the audience throughout the whole play – and hold it they did. And, they are teenagers. Playing with both a skill and maturity that defies their age, dressed simply in school uniforms, they portray over 20 characters between them. Director Karen Blunden and Assistant Director Mandy Ainsworth should be congratulated for such gorgeous direction of their cast, who show fluidity, pace, and choreographed dances, fights, and flirtations, many performed in slow motion. There is no set and no props, and the only things the actors use are 6 chairs, which become everything in their story. The lighting and sound add atmosphere effectively: music playing a key role almost as another character in the piece, including a school disco.

This really is an ensemble acting triumph for the actors, director and whole team, and there are some stand out moments showing creative and fantastic ideas. These actors have to be good at both physically representing all the different characters and finding different voices, styles of speaking and pitch and tone for them all, as well as conveying sometimes contrasting emotions with a split second switch. A fantastic example is Robyn having a conversation with herself, as teacher and student. The instant change in physicality, emotion and speech, including the student playing with her hair in an “I don’t care” way, was superb. There are other moments of absolute brilliance: the slow motion car journey where “Gail” (Robyn) makes a pass at the teacher: the main character Mr Nixon (Alex), through the hilarity of all the inappropriate songs on the car radio and then their facial expressions when she leans in: fantastic. We are told one student, played by Korey, is incredibly tall; and the choice of how to portray him was that he stoops slightly – which was so amazingly clever: as tall people, especially teenagers trying to fit in, often try to minimise their height by looking smaller.

All the choreographed pieces were so in sync, they moved as one, and at one point when they jumped they were all exactly the same distance from the floor: that shows drilling and commitment both to performance and rehearsal. The scene where Mr Nixon returns home to his bedsit and the other five turn themselves into his furniture was so poignant: that the other actors had de-humanised themselves into ‘things’ showed more isolation than if it had been a multi-purpose set. The whole piece showed such attention to detail, from direction to each individual performance. This is an example of some truly great ensemble work, all six actors performing so well it is hard to single any out, although Korey and Robyn particularly shone with the extra details they put into their portrayals both physically and verbally switching between roles.

“Whitewall Comprehensive” has something for every audience member: each of us recognise the characters. It is a sad but realistic journey for the teacher whose spirit is so crushed in one year that he leaves the school, and how wonderful that we get to see the real and positive impact that he had on the students even in just that one year. The message: yes it’s worth it. Inspiring others is always worth it. And it’s worth remembering these actors’ names too: they will go far.

Susanne Crosby