‘John Godber’s ‘Teecher’s is a play that can both entertain and educate the audience at the same time.’

The play “Teecher’s” is about three school pupils putting on a play about what their old school (Whitewall) used to be like, throughout the play we are following the three characters Gail (played by Nicole Black), Salty (played by Jacob Addely) and Hobby (played by Donna Preston) who also played all of the teachers and the rest of the students, the effect of multi role makes the audience concentrate more on the play, because it makes the audience think more about what’s going on in each scene as there is a lot to take in with each different character . This is effective because it makes the audience think about what is going on and figure out which characters the actors are playing by use of gestures and change in voice.
John Godber wrote this play to show how the education system works today and how some people receive a better education system if they are richer but also some people receive a bad education if they can’t afford to go to the richer school, he wrote the play to show that every pupil has potential to be great, but some don’t get the opportunity because of their financial situation and it’s not fair to the disadvantaged students. The play was a play within a play, this means that the actors were putting on a play about students putting on a play, this worked well because it meant that the audience were more interested in what was happening on stage because it was complicated to understand which made it more interesting. It was made interesting by this because you had to work out yourself what was happening, which also made the audience want to watch and analyse the play.
I think that the question is correct because while you are watching the performance you are also learning from it, you are learning that school is important and you shouldn’t waste your time, you learn this lesson from Salty because during the play salty confesses to the head teacher that he shouldn’t have wasted his time at school because now he is about to go into the world with barely any qualifications and not getting anything out of his school life. It is also entertaining because it was amusing. They made it amusing by using slapstick in some places and also timing of their jokes in the performance, this is used to engage the audience, for example when Hobby’s tie got stuck on the table.
The company’s intention for the play was to create an educational and entertaining performance which worked well because it made the performance more enjoyable, also the performance was educational in the fact that it teaches you about how the educational system works and how pupils can receive a better chance than others but does it in a way that is appealing for a wide group of people.

The use of multi-purpose set worked well. They used three chairs and desks throughout the whole play which worked well because it made the audience use their imagination more and also meant that they didn’t have to take time changing around the sets for different scenes, the chairs and desks change location and position throughout the play by the actors or sometimes by someone playing the caretaker, this worked well because it meant that they didn’t take too much of their time up to change the scene, also when they were changing the scene by moving around the props they used they used music so that the audience wouldn’t lose interest in the performance which was effective. A good example of the multi-purpose set was when the desks and chairs were used in the disco scene; this enhanced the viewer’s experience. It made them become more interesting because they had to imagine what the specific parts of the set were supposed to be, this could educate the audience by making them more aware of how we perceive objects to be something different from what they are supposed to be.

Characterisation was another thing that went well to entertain the audience because of the way the actors changed throughout the play to change characters, they changed did this by using techniques like quick costume change, when Jacob Addely was playing Salty he had his sleeves rolled up and his tie short which made him look scruffy, this gave the audience the impression that Salty was a lower class citizen and also didn’t really care about succeeding in school but when he changed characters into Nixon he pulled his sleeves down and straightened out his tie which gave the audience the impression that Nixon was middle class and cared about his appearance which shows his characteristics to be caring but also intelligent. This worked well because it highlighted the difference between student and teacher. This technique also shows the audience that we stereotype different groups like teenagers, it does this by showing the audience that the way we see different things like a change in costume can affect the way we view people. Other things that the actors used to show characterisation were the different body language they used for each character, for example when Mrs Parry (played by Donna Preston “Hobby”) talks she is extremely enthusiastic which is shown with her body language and facial expression, the character always had a facial tic and extreme hand gestures. Another technique that Donna Preston used to play Mrs Parry was freezing with a comical facial expression whenever Mr Nixon had a line which made it a more comical performance, for example when Mr Nixon was in Mrs Parry’s office.

Monologue was used well to show what types of characters they were playing and how they felt about themselves, for example Oggy Moxon performed his monologue in the style of rap, that type of way to perform the monologue reflects the type of character that he is, which is a cocky trouble maker who acts like he’s “as hard as nails”. This worked well because it made the audience more aware of the type of character that they were witnessing on stage. Another monologue that was effective in the play was Mr Nixon’s (played by “Salty” Jacob Addely) the monologue was sad because it was about a teacher that has lost the passion for teaching, the play made the audience feel sad in different ways as well, they used spotlight to make the audience aware that it was a serious monologue that was coming from his heart, another technique they used to make the audience feel sadness was by putting sad music in the background, they played James Blunt and Coldplay throughout the performance to enhance the emotion of sadness onto the audience. It was an effective thing to do because Salty didn’t want Mr Nixon to go at the time so it enhanced how Mr Nixon (played by Salty) performed the monologue, this was effective because it highlighted John Godber’s message which was that everybody has the potential to be great but most don’t get the opportunity.

The actors used multi-role in order to have different characters in the play, they used this because there were only 3 actors in the performance, and this meant that the actors and the audience needed to have a good imagination in order to not get confused as to who was who, they achieved the multi-role by changing the characteristics and costume of each of the characters, for example when Jacob Addely was playing salty he made his costume look how a teenager would wear a uniform, he did this by rolling up his sleeves, shortening his tie and putting his collar up. But when Jacob changed characters into Mr Nixon he rolled his sleeves down, straightened out his tie and put his collar down so that he looked more like a teacher at a school. This shows that he is a teacher because the performance uses stereotypes, for example they stereotype students as being scruffy dressed and stereotype teachers as being smartly dressed. The actors in the play used other techniques to change their characters throughout the play, such as changing the facial expressions of their characters, body language, levels, proxemics and tone of voice. All of this worked well to create a piece that was not only entertaining but also amusing. Also the actors in the performance broke the fourth wall, this happened during various monologues and at the start of the performance when the actors started off stage talking in role to some of the audience members; this made the performance more entertaining because it involved the audience well and made them feel more involved in the performance, this was effective because it made the audience want to engage more in it as they had been involved in it. The performance of teechers also had its moments of comedy in it, such as when Mr Nixon was becoming increasingly irritated by the two girls slowly dragging their chairs along, this shows comical timing which all of the actors pulled off because of the laughter running throughout the auditorium. Another moment of comedy was when Hobby got her tie stuck on the table and Gail had to try and pull her off, this was made comical by the timing and the facial expressions of the actors and made the piece more enjoyable for the audience to watch. Modern references throughout the performance also gave it moments of comedy because the audience could relate to the actors, some of the references used were “hash tag,” “amaze balls,” “Woolworths,” “HMV.”
These modern references meant that the audience could relate to the performance more and it also made the performance more comical.

Although the performance had its moments of comedy these were match by its serious moments, for example at the start when the character Gail, Hobby and Salty were reading out there report cards the lights were dimmed which emphasised their lack of achievement, this also showed us as the audience that maybe the characters in the play had hoped for a better outcome which then consequently hindered their trust in their school. Another moment of seriousness that occurred in the play was when Mr Nixon (Jacob Addely) was talking about wanting to quit working at Whitewall, this is made serious by the fact that it is a monologue downstage and he is breaking the fourth wall by communicating to the audience, it is a hard hitting scene because if you look behind it is “Salty” playing Mr Nixon and he didn’t want Mr Nixon to leave because he inspired him to be a better student. The point of this was to show that the teachers at a school have a great impact on the students; this can link back to the overall message of the performance. Another serious moment was when Salty admits his time at Whitewall has been wasted, and that there is nothing out in the open world for him. This was one of the most naturalistic parts of the play because it showed true emotions with no intent of humour. The most important moment in the play was the monologue between the main characters, Salty, Gail and Hobby. This was important because it underlined the significance of the play. They said “Given up for dead” by the teachers but when the new teacher came along it gave them purpose.

In conclusion the performance of John Goober’s Teecher’s is a play that can both entertain and educate the audience at the same time, this is shown by the performance being entertaining by the use of humour such as comical timing, but is also educational because of the hidden message that some pupils don’t get the best opportunities because of their resources. Godber did this by having unique characters that have the entertaining overall impression over the audience but inside they are just kids looking for an opportunity.