I am comparing the play; ‘Teechers’ by John Godber, to the play that I :: Drama

I am comparing the play; ‘Teechers’ by John Godber, to the play that I recently took part in and helped to write; ‘The Victim’. The plot of our ‘The Victim’ and ‘Teechers’ I am comparing the play; ‘Teechers’ by John Godber, to the play that I recently took part in and helped to write; ‘The Victim’. The plot of our play- ‘The Victim’- is based around bullying and domestic violence. The main storyline is about a young schoolgirl called Jess moving to a new area and a new school. She is singled out by the other people at the school and a group of girls begin to bully her. Her home life isn’t much better though- Jess’ mum is a schizophrenic and abuses Jess both verbally and physically. Jess copes with the stress of it all at first but then it starts to depress her and she thinks about committing suicide. The bullies carry on tormenting Jess and a nasty trick is the final straw. Jess goes home and tries to find comfort in her mum who rejects her, this leads to Jess taking an overdose. Although the plot of ‘Teechers’ is a lot different to the plot of ‘The Victim’, the basic setting is quite similar: ‘Teechers’ is also set in a school and modern day life. ‘Teechers’ vigorously evokes life at a modern Comprehensive, using the format of an end-of-term play to sketch a drama teacher’s progress through two terms of recalcitrant classes, cynical colleagues and obstructive caretakers until he departs for the safer waters of a private school. The play runs the gamut of emotions, mostly humour, to portray the main themes of the play. The play to an extent comments on the flaws of the education system: the title it self is a political statement, instead of being spelt 'teachers' its spelt ‘Teechers’, almost a comedic dig at the 'system' which has failed to teach the pupils correctly. In our play the main themes are bullying, domestic violence and isolation, but references are also made to suicide, mental illness and fitting in. We used these issues because they are things that teenagers in particular may experience and so the audience could maybe relate to the play. By choosing to explore these issues we may also raise awareness of things like bullying and domestic violence and help people to understand the issues involved. Therefore by using these themes we made the play more personal to the audience and more emotional; therefore they may enjoy the play more and feel more involved. The themes of ‘Teechers’ are quite different to the themes stated