Teechers – Harrogate Theatre

Writer: John Godber

Director: Jane Thornton

Sit down, settle down, stop chewing gum, stop running Simon Patterson!

It’s time for the end of term assembly at Whitehall Academy, and Year 11 BTEC Drama students Salty (Levi Payne), Gail (Jo Patmore) and Hobby (Sophie Suddaby) are here to show us their coursework as a celebration of the arts in schools, and as a thank you to the Drama teacher who motivated them along the way. Because Salty, Gail and Hobby aren’t normally the most motivated of kids. No-one at Whitehall is. They’re the rejects, the burnouts and the kids that teachers are too afraid to tackle. And they’re going to tell the tale of their final year of high school (with the names, faces and some of the events changed to protect the innocent).

It’s a show that has been regularly performed since Godber first wrote it in 1984, and it’s always an entertaining romp. Although it falls back on a lot of ‘grim oop North’ stereotypes and takes some of the anti-social behaviour to the extremes, anyone who has worked in an OFSTED branded ‘requires improvement’ school can tell you it’s shockingly not that over exaggerated. If you’re a ‘teecher’ yourself, expect to spend a lot of time nodding along.

Payne, Patmore and Suddaby multirole and combine Brechtian techniques, physical theatre and good old-fashioned narration to populate the stage as they describe the story of new teacher Ms Nixon. They are all excellent at dropping in and out of different roles, signified with minimal props or accessories and a lot of posture and voice work. Payne is an excellent physical actor, and his ninja sequence, helped along by his fellow cast, gets a spontaneous round of applause. Suddaby is great for a heartfelt monologue and a twisted face. Patmore is a double threat and most adept at characterisation, and although she gets less focus than her peers is the most engaging of the triad. Together they are a vastly entertaining watch, and able to hit the real heartfelt moments too. Unfortunately, sometimes there are cases of caricature over clarity, with funny voices and poses taking more precedence than characterisation, and the stage can often be quite static. The use of TikTok style movement can also sometimes be a little flat – although the moves are good and executed excellently, there’s a feeling that they’re only included because someone though it would be cool rather than them serving the shape of the play. The first act does drag a little as a result. There is also a tendency to drown out the start of scenes with incidental music, first lines being delivered garbled and masked. Overall, it’s very much like watching a bunch of sixteen-year-olds put on a show…

Speaking of the TikTok dances, the script is not stuck in the past but has been updated for the post-covid generation. Vapes are rife, there’s a laboured joke about the Just Eat jingle, and phones are a regular nuisance. The core of the show remains however, which just shows how timeless an idea Godber’s premise is. And that’s depressing. The show is a comedy, but it has an undercurrent of bleakness, often to the point of preaching. It is two hours of reminding its audience that the world is failing these kids, with underfunding, pointless paperwork, and a general lack of care. Teachers at Whitehall Academy crash out with mental health issues, are put off by administration and discipline issues, or become either jaded authoritarians or dizzily oblivious. As a former teacher herself, who worked at such a school and left because of a lot of the reasons expounded on in the show, your reviewer found it all hits very close to home. Especially seeing it in the affluent area of Harrogate. In 42 years, some lines, scenery and props might have changed, but the issues the show calls attention to have not. For that reason alone, Teechers is very worth seeing.

Runs until Saturday 30 May 2026