John Godber’s play, written in the 1980s, is set in a low decile English comprehensive school. In Christchurch it begins in the Isaac Theatre Royal foyer, and on the stairs to the Gloucester Room where ‘high school students’ banter, posture and glide paper darts.   

It’s a play within a play: three teenagers are leaving school and they aim to give an account of their time at Whitewall, in particular their experiences with the drama teacher. Think To Sir with Love but with more comedy. As Salty, one of the protagonists, says: “All we want you to do is use your imagination because there’s only three of us, and we all have to play different characters.” 

There’s a minimalist set of three desks and chairs and a partition towards the rear of the stage.  John Godber: “I based the setting of the play around the props and facilities I had at my disposal as a drama teacher; a few chairs and desks and a whole load of imagination.”   

Well-directed by Derek Doddington, the production demands a lot from its performers. Dan Crossen, Jay Versteeg and Nikki Bleyendaal, together, play over twenty characters, bending gender, age, personality and accents. They not only act but also narrate, a device I enjoy. Nor are the all the characters confined to one actor: a couple (caricatures really) are channelled at different times by each actor.

It’s clever. And it’s fast. At times it’s a comedy of one-liners. Movements are quick, new characters introduced, dynamics are assisted by lighting changes and soundbites of relevant pop music (though the repeating bars of Hotel California gave me pause ­ a hotel, like a school, is an institution where people come and go?).   

With a little tweaking Teechers could be placed into a New Zealand setting with interesting (and relevant) potential. Whilst social issues are mentioned in the script they sometimes feel like an overlay, rather than emerging, naturally, from the plot. The play is stronger as a comedy than a drama, more like stand-up comedy than a fully integrated play: entertaining with a nod at social issues but lacking depth of character. But these are script and not performance considerations.   

The playwright said in a 2001 interview that he “had become increasingly bored by the conventions of modern drama. Most of the plays I had read were set in realistic locations, and therefore fairly limiting in terms of how they could represent themselves to an audience. In some respects these plays amounted to nothing more than ‘big telly’ …”  

He also said: “I often say if you let the plates fall you are left watching three actors and three chairs, but if you keep the plates spinning the audience never see three chairs and three actors, they see a comprehensive school at work. It is a shared experience and a piece of theatrical magic.”   

Congratulations to the performers (Dan Crossen, Jay Versteeg, Nikki Bleyendaal) whose feats of memory and multiple character shifts are handled with skill. I like Mr Nixon, Mrs Parry, and Gail. I like Oggy, the school bully (played by all three performers).

Teechers is an accessible high energy play and if you like a good laugh it’s worth a night out. 

Copyright © in the review belongs to the reviewer