Nic Sampson has written a sort-of sequel to Idiots, which played at Te Karanga in July. Idiots – Back 2 School is a series of interrelated vignettes about high school life, complete with callous break-ups, awkward flirtations, ghosts of the past, student-teacher romance, trying to get high, a substitute teacher, sporting traditions, petty revenge and… a text messaging seagull.

The five different directors in charge of nine scenes have kept a cohesive style to the whole play, which are mostly self-contained duets set in and around the school. The common theme is the anticipation of the School Formal, which unfortunately clashes with an important rugby game. The final scene throws several characters from previous scenes in together and brings things to a head.

The ghost of a former head master (played with excellent creepiness by Gareth Williams) haunts the current one (Renee Lyons), to try and reinvigorate outdated traditions. A rugby nut (Ryan Richards) makes the necessary personal sacrifice to keep his already limited mind on the game. There is tension in the staff room, innuendo in the music department and miscreant behaviour in the bushes.

An unexpected highlight is Morgana O’Reilly’s idealistic seagull; I also loved ‘substi-teacher’ Mr Watson, played by Thomas Sainsbury, who reminded me of a try-hard substitute teacher I had at school; and Nic Sampson’s own Mr Frew, the PE teacher whose smouldering resentment is barely concealed below a smarmy facade. 

New writer Nic Sampson has recruited a smorgasbord of talent in terms of actors and directors, and there are many brilliant comic moments in his 90-minute script for them to sink their teeth into. There are too many to mention everyone individually (click here for full details), suffice to say the performances are of a consistently high standard. 

Although a little rough around the edges – I could gripe about the script needing some fine-tuning or the cast lacking sufficient rehearsal time to wring the most out of it – this is part of its charm. Also, you get to vote with your wallet: rather than buying tickets, you pay what you think it’s worth at the end, which I think lends itself well to this sort of lo-fi, short run, hands-on theatre. 

Due to the seating arrangement, it’s sometimes hard to see what’s going on, especially the scene in the music room where Sally (Keisha Castle-Hughes) and Brian (Ash Jones) are huddled in a corner of the stage area. The back two rows have to crane their necks to see past the people in front. This could be fairly easily remedied; scenes in which the action is more centre-stage aren’t a problem. 
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