A lesson in classroom drama

You might think that a play set in a gritty working-class school in 1980s England full of troubled students might have little resonance in Singapore.

Yet Teechers - yes, the title is deliberately misspelt - which is being staged here next week is a play that anyone who went to any school can relate to.

So says its director Hannah Chiswick, who has flown here from Britain specially to direct the comedy put on by local group Centre Stage Productions at the DBS Arts Centre.

Chiswick, 32, does not think anything will be lost in translation in the play, about how an idealistic teacher can transform the lives of his students.

'It is a universal story, we all went to school. Our schools might have been different but we all had good and bad teachers and we all faced the pressures of exams and growing up,' says the freelance director, who first directed the play in Harrogate Theatre in Yorkshire in 2003.

British playwright John Godber wrote Teechers in 1987.

In it, three school-leaving students from Whitewall High School put on a play about their time there.

It focuses on how the inspirational new drama teacher who ignited their passion for the stage, Mr Nixon, changed their lives.

The three students play over 20 characters, including a grumpy caretaker and a deputy headmaster who rules with an iron rod.

The production stars an all-British cast, which includes Singapore- based Britons Daniel Jenkins and Centre Stage co-founder Alison Tompkins. Actors Pete Dunwell and Laura Checkley have flown here specially for their roles, which they had played before in previous productions.

Chiswick tells Life! she first heard about Centre Stage through a friend who acted here in Bouncers, a play put on by the Singapore drama company in 2005. Bouncers, set in a nightclub in the north of England, was also written by Godber.

On why Teechers is being staged here, she says: 'Bouncers was popular here and it is by the same playwright. I also had some shows with nice reviews in Britain. So I guess it is a combination of factors.'

Working in theatre for over 11 years, she has directed over 60 productions. In 2003, she was appointed artistic director of Harrogate Theatre, where she stayed for over three years before striking out as a freelance director.

Chiswick, who is single, thinks audiences can relate to the warm and fuzzy heart at the core of the show.

Says the director: 'It is a fantastically funny play but it is quite touching as well. It is about three young people and their relationship with a fantastic drama teacher. It is such a poignant story.'

Adeline Chia