Teechers by John Godber.

Teechers is a play by John Godber, written in 1987. It was first

performed by the Hull Truck Theatre Company at the 1987 Edinburgh

Festival starring Martin Barass as Salty, Gill Tompkins as Gail and

Shirley Anne Selby as Hobby.

It is a play within a play in which three students put on a performance to

their teachers. Everything in the play is reduced to the bare essentials,

with very little set and the three actors playing twenty other parts.

However, Godber has said that it could also be performed with twenty

different actors. The action is set within a 'play-in-a-play' format, which is

something you must remember when watching or performing it; your

character is a student acting the part of a teacher, dinner lady etc so you

are in fact playing two characters at any one time. As a result the style of

acting has to be exaggerated and energetic.

Godber also specified the use of contemporary chart music to keep the

play current.
Synopsis

Three school leavers, Salty, Hobby and Gail Saunders perform to the

audience an account of their time in High School (given the name

'Whitewall' for their performance), specifically their time with Mr.Jeff

Nixon, the new drama teacher who ignites their passion for the stage

with his idealism and belief that all children should be treated equally.

The children mention that the names of the characters have been

changed: Mr Nixon's real name is Mr Harrison, mentioned at the

beginning. At the end of the play he leaves Whitewall High School to

teach at St George's, another school with a much better reputation.

 Characters in Teechers

 Ian "Salty" Salt - a school-leaver, bright and fresh-faced, rather

dirty in appearance.

 Lilian "Hobby" Hobson - Shy. Should be very large, must be bigger

than the other two. She is doing the play despite herself.

 Gail Saunders - Loud mouthed and bossy, attractive and full of

enthusiasm.

 Mr Harrison - the drama teacher, socialist and idealistic, called Mr

Nixon in the play.

 Mrs Hudson - the headmistress, called Mrs Parry in the play.

 Ms Maureen Whitham - A fussy and hopeless teacher, desperate

to leave

 Doug - The caretaker, a miserable old man, he hates kids and

drama

 Ms Jones - A moaner, rather fat, someone who wants to leave but

no-one will employ her

 Mr Dean "Deanie" - A teacher who thinks all the kids love him, a
bad dancer

 Bobby "Oggy" Moxon - The cock of the school, looks much older
than he actually is, the school bully in a modern age

 Peter "Pete" Saxon - A large, frightening youth with tattoos,

appears foolish

 Mr Fisher - Head of PE

 Barry Wobschall - A small boy who never brings his PE kit

 Simon "Piggy" Patterson - A boy who is always telling on others,

he always runs to his lessons. There is a standing joke in the play,
with teachers repeatedly shouting, "Stop running, Simon
Patterson!"

 Ron - A boy who never does PE

 Mr Hatton - Helps with the youth club dance

 Dennis - Oggy's side-kick

 Jeff "Niko" Nixon - New drama teacher, young and casual

 Mrs Cordelia Parry - The Head Mistress, large and loud, a real
eccentric

 Mr Derek Basford - The Deputy Head, a typical child hater, a nasty

piece of work

 Miss Jackie Prime (later Short) - Dolly bird of a PE mistress

 Mrs Coates - Head Mistress at Saint George's


 Mrs Clifton - Head of Governors at Saint George's
A LIGHT HEARTED COMEDY SET IN A BRITISH COMPREHENSIVE SCHOOL IN
THE MID EIGHTIES, JOHN GODBER’S TEECHERS LOOKS AT THE BRITISH
EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM WITH A TWIST OF CONTROVERSY AND HUMOUR.

USUALLY PLAYED ON STAGE BY THREE ACTORS WHO TAKE ON THE ROLE

OF 20 CHARACTERS WITH NOTHING MORE THAN A TABLE AND CHAIR
PROVIDING THE VARIOUS SETTINGS IN AND OUTSIDE A COMPREHENSIVE
SCHOOL HALL.

ACTORS USE PLASTIC NOSES AND GLASSES AND WIGS TO HELP WITH THE
CHARACTER DIFFERENTIATION. HOWEVER, WHEN THE PLAY IS PRODUCED
WITH A LARGER CAST THEN THERE IS USUALLY A PROPORTIONAL
INCREASE IN PROPS.

TEECHERS REVOLVES AROUND MR NIXON, THE DRAMA TEACHER AND

THREE OF HIS STUDENTS, SALTY, GAIL AND HOBBY. THE SCENES CENTRE
ON MR NIXON’S DRAMA LESSONS WHICH EVENTUALLY LEAD TO A
PERFORMANCE OF THE MIKADO.

DURING THE MAYHEM AND TEENAGE ANGST THAT DEVELOPS

THROUGHOUT THE PLAY, VARIOUS OTHER TEACHERS AND STUDENTS
ENTER AND LEAVE PROVIDING MANY HILARIOUS MOMENTS OF
CONFRONTATION AND ANXIETY.

THE MANIC DRAMA LESSONS AND ALSO THE OTHER LESSONS THAT THE
PUPILS SIT THROUGH WITH MUCH PROTEST, ULTIMATELY LEAD TO THE
POINT THAT ONCE TALENT HAS BEEN TAPPED IN SCHOOL THE RESULT IS
OFTEN STAGGERING.

THE PLAY HIGHLIGHTS THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN STATE AND PRIVATE

EDUCATION AND THE LACK OF EDUCATION FUNDING IN A SUBTLE MANNER,
WHILST CONCENTRATING ON THE DIFFICULTIES FACING TEACHERS AND
THE FUN AND FROLICS OF THE TEENAGE PUPILS.
In his 1987 play Teechers Godber returns to the subject of youth and his
own experiences of the education system. Written five years after
E.P.A., Teechers is a mature and assured piece in which the playwright
brings together many of the techniques and concerns developed in
earlier plays. He employs a Brechtian approach in the "signposting" of
some of the scenes--where the dramatic intent is announced as a
subtitle to the scene following--and in the way the actors not only play
their multiple roles but also demonstrate an attitude to the character. For
example, it is clear that the school bully, Oggy Moxon, is loathed by each
central character who plays him.

As Godber says in his 1989 introduction to the text of the play,

"Teechers was designed to be played by three actors, multi-role-playing
twenty other parts in a play-within-a-play format. Everything about the
play was reduced to the basic essentials: actors, stage, audience." It is
this reliance on the "essentials" creates the force of the play. Three
pupils, Salty, Gail, and Hobby, present the audience with a complex,
character-driven narrative that focuses on their new, idealistic drama
teacher, Mr. Nixon, and the impact he has on their lives and the lives of
some notable staff and students. The presentation of these distinct
personalities and the creation of multiple characters calls for
considerable versatility and skill from the small cast.

Teechers is a comedy but, as Godber writes in his introduction, he

believes it "is also deadly serious." Hugh David, writing in the 16 October
1987 issue of the Times Educational Supplement, finds the seriousness
in the play-within-the-play put on by departing students:

Beneath the jokes the leavers' show charts the growing disillusionment
of a probationary teacher--their drama teacher. Ground down by the
apathy and downright hostility of his colleagues, he applies for a post at
a nearby independent school where both life and facilities are much
better. Does he get it? In the pageant he has a change of heart and
stays to fight another year, in real life his idealism is not so apparent.

Critics often viewed the play as a political attack on state school

underfunding and underachievement, reading it as an unequivocal
statement criticizing the English state education system. With Teechers
one can say that the playwright achieved his long-professed goal of
making his audience laugh and think.