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MISS by Meg Coslett

 
Olivia Thompson Review by Olivia Thompson 4 Published: 21 Aug 2025 Lion & Unicorn Theatre Show Dates: 7 Aug 2025-20 Aug 2025

The teaching profession in the UK has been in crisis for some time. Current statistics suggest that just under a third of teachers quit within five years. This is the looming scenario for the unnamed protagonist of Meg Coslett’s new play MISS, now playing at the Lion and Unicorn Theatre in Kentish Town. Played by Coslett herself, an English teacher simply referred to as “Miss” struggles through a single day in the classroom, encountering a wide range of educators, students, and parents, all brought vividly to life through outstanding multi-rolling performances by Joe Sefton, Georgia Maguire, and James Coward.

A strong, impactful piece of theatre

Switching between a series of monologues and full dialogue scenes, MISS charts the trials and tribulations of everyday teaching. Each class period becomes a different adventure with its own cast of students. Coslett trained as an English teacher, a background that proves invaluable to her writing. The observations, nuances, and humour of secondary school life are astute and, at times, profound. One standout scene sees Miss confronted with a boy she suspects is caught up in drug running after school. In class, he is lethargic, but she cannot directly address his wider life beyond education, leaving both characters suspended in a painful dynamic where the truth must remain unspoken. The tricky balance of educational and pastoral responsibility recurs throughout the piece – in some scenes more successfully than others – but always with an eye to the professional, emotional, and legal constraints under which teachers must operate.

The play resists easy categorisation as either drama or comedy. Yet the comedic crown surely belongs to the School Receptionist (James Coward), who valiantly spins across the stage in a wheelie chair: a loving homage to the unappreciated matriarchs of countless British secondary schools.

Interestingly, the teaching staff seem to have less developed interior lives than the students, perhaps a deliberate result of Miss’s perspective as the narrator. While she clearly cares for her pupils, her attitude toward her colleagues is coloured by disillusionment. Her own dreams and motivations remain elusive as well; what is most apparent is how her mental energy is fully consumed by the school day, an environment she frequently contemplates leaving behind.

Altogether, MISS is a strong, impactful piece of theatre that concisely explores the complexities, toxicities, and fragile human goodwill underpinning the British education system.

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The Blurb:

Miss is starting to find white hairs at 25. Miss wants you to know that teenagers are mostly decent people, it’s the adults who are tossers. Above all, Miss is sick of being called ‘Miss’. Giving us a glimpse into what teachers want to say but never could, ‘MISS' follows a day in the life of a secondary school English teacher. From her 8am Weetabix to her 3pm breakdown and everything in between, 'MISS' blends character comedy with narrative storytelling to draw attention to the joy, heartbreak and humanity of a profession in crisis.