Who’d be a teacher?
It’s a question asked by Alan Bennet’s masterpiece of the theatre, “The History Boys” – but did that play give a comprehensive answer?
John Godber’s “Teechers” (showing now at Woodley Theatre) has a similar premise to Bennet’s story – new teacher Mr Nixon (Josef Cooper) joins a local school and takes responsibility for a group of students, whose future prospects are in doubt.
Yet while “The History Boys” explores the students’ ability to pass the Oxbridge entrance exams, “Teechers” focuses on something that many more of us can relate to – namely, the harsh yet rewarding reality of an increasingly pressured job.
Nixon takes on the role filled with hope, but things start to unravel very quickly as the demands of the job, the students’ challenging behaviour (“16 kids turned up; there were 25 on the register”), and the crazy work patterns become apparent.
With a local private school offering better hours, better pay and better-behaved classes – will he jump ship, or stay and support the students who have no-one else to look out for them?
It’s a tough choice, made all the more heartbreaking by the fact that the play itself is being “acted out live” by three of his “students” who’ve taken his teachings to heart and are staging the play as a plea to make him stay.
Salty (Cooper), Gail (Katie Foster) and Hobby (Ella Donathy) introduce the evening and the play’s premise, as well as acting out the key scenes in Nixon’s time with the school – becoming the teachers, students and family members with whom he interacts.
Bringing 20+ characters to life is no mean feat, but the cast acquit themselves very well, fully inhabiting the different characters they play – and often switching between characters in the blink of an eye. With minimal props and costume changes, they have to rely on their voices and postures to convincingly switch between adolescence and middle-age, and do so very well indeed.
The set itself is similarly bare, with a couple of desks and chairs helping to conjure the scene – while a projector provides different backgrounds to assist with scene transitions. Though on first glance this may appear to be a low-budget production (especially next to the theatre’s previously lavish sets), it actually fits really well with the play’s core concept – this is supposed to a student production set in a deprived school, and a more opulent approach would undercut that idea.
Likewise, while the play’s themes are reflective, startling and at times moving, there is an irrepressible energy and humour to the script which shines through the desperate situations which many of the characters find themselves in.
Ably directed by Jane Harris, this is a bold production with a great concept and a solid cast – that does justices to a vocation that has long been under-appreciated. Highly recommended, “Teechers” runs at Woodley Theatre from the 27th September – 1st October, with tickets available via www.woodleytheatre.org.
