Following its three recent successful in-house productions - Educating Rita, Talking Heads and Two - Durham’ Gala Theatre has announced its next, which will be in May 2019.
Directed by Tom Wright and designed by Hannah Sibai, who worked together on Two, the May production will be John Godber’s 1984 play Teechers. Set in a comprehensive school, it follows Gail, Salty and Hobbo, as they put on a play based on their time at the school with the central character being an idealistic young Drama teacher.
Three actors play a wide range of parts, including the three leavers, the Drama teacher (Mr Jeff Nixon, who is really Mr Harrison but the names have been changed “to protect the innocent”) and an array of other pupils, including, obviously, the bully, plus the Head and the Deputy Head – a total of 20 in all.
Godber (the third most performed playwright in the UK after Shakespeare and Alan Ayckbourn) began his working life as a Drama teacher and director Wright’s mother was also a Drama teacher (as was I, but that’s another story).
“As I was growing up,” Tom Wright says, “I got to watch the difference my mum made to young people’s lives. This was a school where the only potential employers who bothered to turn up to careers day were the Armed Forces and fast food chains.
“The world told these young people again and again that their lives didn’t matter, and there was my mother, telling them that they did matter, and opening up a world of imagination and self-expression.
“Now more than ever before drama and the arts in general are under attack in the state education system. This play is all about that; valuing each student and giving the gift of imagination, in a way which is playful and frequently hilarious. I can’t wait to get stuck into rehearsals.”
The play runs at the Gala from 6th to 11th May and tickets are priced from £10 to £16 and anyone booking before 31st January can secure seats for £10 across all performances. Tickets can be booked can be booked online at www.galatheatre.co.uk or by phoning 03000 266 600.