Education, Education, Education

Oh I adored this when I saw it. 100% recommend. I saw it with 3 people who work for the Labour party (one too young to remember the Blair years) and me who used to work in schools. But either way it was a really funny interesting piece. See it!

i effing love all these Edinburgh success stories - it feels like the good old says when Edinburgh really was a stepping stone. With this, Mischief and Six we have 3 shows that originated at the fringe now in the West End!

This is short and minimalistic, probably better suited to a fringe production.

A quick 75 minute running time (no interval). Fairly full tonight. I had a good central Stalls seat thanks to the TodayTix offer. Glad I wasn't further forward as I didn't have to take part in the audience interaction.

Everything is a set in the single day after the 1997 elections, with a young cast who I can't imagine remembered this first time around. It was the first time I'd voted in a general election and I remember watching the results until well into the early hours, so I remember the surrounding period well. The cast of seven play a variety of roles, pupils and teachers, with just two doors pushed around the stage to differentiate between scenes. There's lots of 90s music played, mostly in short snippets, at which point the cast often join in with dancing.

There is a story in there and it's engaging enough, along with a bit of comedy. The satire was quite light but there were a few scenes foreshadowing the future and talking about how education really went downhill in the years after 1997.

There turned out to be a cast Q&A after the play, which was by far the most interesting part of the evening. It streamed live on Facebook, so you can watch it here:
www.facebook.com/mytheatremates/videos/395618331161805

They talked about the Wardrobe Ensemble production process, essentially everything comes from a series of improvisations and so it's refined over the course of the run. The show now is quite different from the one two years ago (but it's "static" now, as the script has been published).

A few of the productions have been done by theatre groups and stage schools, including Education Education Education.

They have another production ready to go at the Edinburgh Fringe as soon as this one closes.

And it's the first time for any of the cast in the West End.

As far as the show goes, it's an easy enough watch and you can be out of the theatre by 8:45pm. Glad I caught the Q&A version for the extra value.

And, for any Vincent River fans, there was a Q&A announced for tomorrow, which I presume will also be streamed.