Three school leavers put on a performance about their time at Whitewall High and the drama teacher who changed it. Between them, the three actors play pupils, teachers, caretakers and assorted members of school life, recreating the arrival of an enthusiastic new drama teacher who tries to inspire students while battling difficult classes, weary colleagues and an education system divided sharply between those who have opportunities and those who do not. It is extremely funny until you notice that quite a lot of what you are laughing at really should not be funny at all.
All Saints Elton Theatre Company presented John Godber’s Teechers from Friday 24th to Sunday 26th April 2026, directed by Samantha Tarrier.
First written in the 1980s, Teechers has remained popular because school life changes constantly while somehow remaining instantly recognisable.
The play uses a play-within-a-play structure, with Neill Baglin as Salty, Teri Edwards as Hobby and Rebecca Foster as Gail. Between them they switch rapidly between characters and create an entire school with little more than performance, movement and imagination.
At the centre is their drama teacher Mr Nixon, also played by Neill Baglin, whose belief in the value of theatre begins to change how the students see themselves. Teri Edwards also played Miss Parry, while Rebecca Foster’s other roles included Doug the caretaker.
Godber uses the comedy of classrooms, staff rooms and school corridors to explore something much bigger: inequality in education.
Whitewall High struggles for resources while better-funded schools offer their students very different opportunities. Drama gives the students a way to question that difference and to make themselves heard.
It is quick, physical and deliberately theatrical, with performers changing character in front of the audience rather than trying to hide how the trick works.
For a theatre company, there is something particularly enjoyable about a play which argues that drama can genuinely change young people’s lives while being extremely funny about the people trying to teach it.
Detention has rarely been this entertaining.