Having spent the majority of my life in school (both as a student and a teacher) this was a play that I was sure I‘d be able to relate to and one that I was looking forward to. The production by Upstage Theatre Company certainly didn’t disappointTeechers by John Godber depicts life in a rundown comprehensive school; told through t he eyes of three of its students all of whom have taken drama ‘for the doss’. The show is fast-moving and thoroughly entertaining with dialogue and characters that are both realistic and amusing and a soundtrack that immediately made me smile.As school is common to us all, it was clear that the audience were also relating to the good humoured and witty banter amongst the characters on stage. For me; comments about new teachers never finding a seat in the staff room and always being put on cover certainly rang true. The story is told against a simple set of 7 chairs, but the use of these was highly imaginative so that they were transformed into such things as tables and even a wall timetable. In fact the overall production was a credit to the show with the cast also forming several montages throughout the play in order to create their set. And for this, I can only commend the cast; with several scene changes, costume changes and indeed character changes the show never lost energy and the cast dealt with the changes well.Of course no production is perfect and some of the acting was a little weak. However there were notable performances from some of the cast; in particular the girl whose characters included Bobby "Oggy" Moxon. Moxon is the ‘cock’ of the school and the character provides yet more entertainment as he attempts to chat up ‘Gayle’ whose character was also played very well.
