Theatre / 1997
Review: Education, Education, Education, Bristol Old Vic
These days the morning after an election (or referendum) sees a large part of the population emerge from their filter bubble feeling thoroughly hopeless as they question how that result even happened when everyone they knew was going to vote the other way. But Friday, May 2 1997 wasn’t like that. Labour had won a landslide victory the night before and the optimism was palpable.
The Wardrobe Ensemble’s Education, Education, Education, co-produced with Royal & Derngate Northampton and Shoreditch Town Hall, takes us back to that day and is wonderfully evocative of the feeling that things would, indeed, only get better.
Featuring music from The Spice Girls, Take That, and Katrina and the Waves (who, the following day, would win the Eurovision Song Contest for the UK), it also shines a light (spot the song reference) on how close to being uncool Cool Britannia actually was.
is needed now More than ever
Pics: Graeme Braidwood
We spend the day at Wordsworth Comprehensive School, seeing it through the eyes of a new arrival: German teaching assistant Tobias, played perfectly by James Newton. It’s Muck-up Day, when the Year 11s leave to start study leave – some teachers see it as the perfect opportunity to reward success, others as an ordeal they’d rather do without.
If ever a school needed the injection of funding promised by Blair and his ‘Education, education, education’ mantra, it’s this one. They’ve been teaching in temporary classrooms for two decades and are way behind the levels they should be achieving in terms of A-Cs at GCSE. The teachers have passion but, in some cases, lack control. We can see, despite all the best intentions, that some students are being failed.
All pics: Graeme Braidwood
Devised by the company, this show is fast-paced, highly entertaining – and very, very funny. I love the clever use of a simple set and well-timed music to guide us through the school day, with every movement perfectly choreographed and executed. And those songs… they may not have been cool, but we loved them and it was great to hear them again.
It also makes you stop, think, and sigh wistfully when we’re reminded of the path our education system has taken since, and I find myself almost tearful when D:Ream’s anthem of hope ends the show.
Bristol Old Vic is rightly proud of the Wardrobe Ensemble. They were the first company to come out of the Made in Bristol programme, now in its eighth year, their achievements marked recently by the unveiling of a blue plaque in one of the theatre’s rehearsal rooms.
Education, Education, Education is their fourth full-company show (they’ve done some children’s stuff too) and I can’t wait to see what they come up with next. Their name is one to look out for.
Education, Education, Education was at Bristol Old Vic from Nov 1-4. For more info, visit www.bristololdvic.org.uk/education-education-education.html and www.thewardrobeensemble.com
Read more: Review: How to Win Against History, Wardrobe Theatre
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