Sherica

What
do a harassed school teacher and his sulky fourteen
year-old student have in common? The services of a “sex
worker” who happens to be the sister of another of the
teacher’s pupils.

Ian
Winterton’s choppy, brutal little play, directed by
Trevor MacFarlane, turns the spotlight on all sorts of
other, related issues, too: discipline in schools (can a
pupil really tell a deputy head to “F*** off” and be given
only an hour’s detention?), the mixing of traditional
schools with academies, and even bribery among staff and
pupils.

The
sex worker is her devastated sister’s primary carer, so
this brings another element of responsibility into play,
and we see the adulterous teacher’s wife, also a teacher
at the school, dealing with it. Or trying to.

Meanwhile
the deputy head, who also runs the school’s cadet force,
and dresses up in battle fatigues once a week, tries not
to rock the boat with phone calls in high places.

It’s
all feistily done in this white brick, cave-like little
venue under the George IV Bridge, and there are strong
performances from Ruth Middleton as the prostitute,
William Hutchby as the repellent mop-haired schoolboy
and Oliver Devoti as the surreptitious, lily-livered
teacher.