Gosh, this Irish play, which has done well at the Abbey and in Edinburgh before finding its way to London, got me and Janie debating the issues robustly for most of the weekend.
Which is a good thing.
The scenario is simple enough and well described in the Bush information about this production – click here – and in the video trailer below.
The play is basically about a teacher’s attempt to help a young boy, Jayden, who is struggling in class, while the parents have separated and are struggling with their relationship and the needs of their children. The play is a tragicomedy – some scenes are genuinely funny, but the underlying sadness of the situation is the prevailing emotion.
The acting was very high quality; Will O’Connell, Sarah Morris and Stephen Jones are all three fine Irish actors. The latter two, who play the parents, also play 9 year-old Jayden and one of his female classmates. It must be very challenging to switch from parent to child mode many times over in one performance, but these two do that well.
The class of the title has, in my view, a double meaning; not only the classroom in which the entire play is set but also the social class difference between the teacher and the families whose children he teachers. It is that class divide, in my view, that drives many of the events that occur in the play, both on stage and also offstage.
We were really impressed and very pleased that we have now seen this play. We read about it when we were in Edinburgh last year and couldn’t get tickets to see it at the Traverse, so were delighted to see it scheduled at one of our beloved local theatres, The Bush, this spring.
Reviews can be found through this link – mostly from The Traverse at the moment I type this, but that might have changed by the time you click.
Class runs until 1 June 2019 at The Bush. We’d recommend Class highly if you like your drama uncompromising yet witty.