28 July – 1 August
Set in a struggling state school, Whitewall Academy, Teechers is a good-humoured but deeply felt polemic about the inequalities of our education system. First performed by the Hull Truck Theatre Company in 1987, writer John Godber has updated some of its features and given it a new urgency, believing that the gap between the haves and have nots has widened in the intervening years. One major change is that the successful neighbouring establishment that lures away Whitewall’s drama teacher, Miss Nixon, is now explicitly a well endowed private school.
Directed in sprightly fashion by Jane Thorton, Teechers is a play within a play, a metadrama that makes clever use of the idea that three Whitewall students are performing their final piece for a BTEC-type drama exam. They have chosen to depict the life of the school itself, revealing in the process all that they have gained from studying drama with the talented Miss Nixon. All three actors capture perfectly the gauche enthusiasm and non-stop energy of teenagers who have discovered something that they love doing.
Sophie Suddaby is Hobby, the energetic pupil who takes on the role of Miss Nixon in the students’ show and who thus becomes the beating heart of the play. We see why Nixon eventually jumps ship, frazzled to the point of despair by having all her free time taken up with covering other teachers’ lessons, struggling with a lack of a drama studio and even a lack of play texts. She is leaving behind a shabby environment where pupils write assignments on their mobile phones because they haven’t got laptops, to join one where laptop ownership is a given, and the facilities include a professionally run theatre.
Jo Patmore as Gail brings sparkling versatility to the students’ show, convincingly depicting a highly competitive PE teacher bursting with bouncy self-confidence one moment, and a miserable old jobsworth of a caretaker the next who brings a rehearsal to an end simply because he has some sweeping to do. Patmore, who trained at BOVTS, is consistently impressive as she sketches in a wide range of characters.
In a very engaging and ultimately touching performance, Levi Payne vividly portrays Salty, a lad for whom education has largely been a waste of time, yet who has discovered hitherto hidden talent through drama. Payne is particularly funny both as a gormless school bully and as Mrs Parry, the all-too theatrical headteacher.
With the exception of Miss Nixon the characters performed by the three students are presented in cartoon-like fashion. That is just how a group of cheeky school kids would see their world, and it gives Teechers a convincing end-of-term atmosphere. But structured essentially as a series of comic sketches interspersed with lively dance sequences, it is perhaps lacking in nuance or depth. John Godber wears his heart on his sleeve, and this play would be an excellent introduction to political theatre for a young audience, but many of the issues it raises have complexities that are only hinted at here.
★★★☆☆ Mike Whitton, 29 July 2026
Photography credit: Ian Hodgson
