The Knowledge – pantsguys

Overview

You finish high school, finish your arts degree, finish your DipEd, and then you're back in some demountable on the edge of the oval. You're qualified for the job on paper, but how much have you changed, physically and emotionally, since schoolies four years ago? It's a complex situation impressively explored in British writer John Donnelly's funny and fraught play The Knowledge.

Running from a relationship breakdown in London, fresh-faced Zoe (Silvina D'Alessandro) has come to Tilbury in Essex to teach the roughest class in a rough school. It's not expected that she'll impart learning to the teens in her bludgy 'citizenship' class so much as keep them from disrupting the learning of others. Precocious Karris (Karli-Rae Grogan), defensive Sal (Isaro Kayitesi), thuggish Mickey (Benjamin Ross), and reserved Daniel (John Benda) run rings around her but also threaten and destabilise her in more intense ways than we'd generally realise.

The banter between them is excellent to watch, only bettered, perhaps, by the no-nonsense talk at Zoe's meetings with her fellow staff, principal and flamboyant cynic Harry (Barry French) and Zoe's mentor, Maz (Brett Rogers), who is ardently trying to seduce her (as well as a sizeable portion of the other young women in Tilbury). They are each imperfect. Donnelly spent time as an educator and, much like our home-grown Lachlan Philpott, has a real ear for the cadences of teenagerhood, the pragmatism of teachers, and the socioeconomic gulf between the two at underprivileged schools.

The Knowledge comes to the Newtown Theatre's Spare Room program courtesy of pantsguys Productions, whose last effort, the flooring Punk Rock, was also set in school grounds. It may have been the result of happy accident more than grand plan, but the plays actually work as companion pieces, one focusing on the inner lives of students, the other on the inner lives of teachers, and both drawing out issues in education. They're very worthy programming choices.

Director Rebecca Martin (seen onstage in Punk Rock) has done a great job; there's an overlapping quality to the scenes that's handled smoothly. The flirtations are as intense as the bullying, and there are also some huge laughs. Most importantly, in a pivotal first-half scene where Zoe is in a drunk fugue, costumed in school uniform and drowning out everything with the Cure, we are right there with her when she does the unthinkable and launches herself into the embrace of a student. We understand why these characters do the unwise, compromising, and unfair things they do. If anything, the staging could have been a touch less hyperactive, as their directionless energy comes across without the constant shifting of feet and desks.

It's the work of the actors that pushes The Knowledge into being a standout. The performances are universally strong, and each gets to steal a scene, but particularly wowing are the actually still school-aged Benda, called on to charm with intellect and intensity, and pocket rocket Grogan, who brings so much sass, likeability, and vulnerability that Karris becomes a whole, living character beyond what was given to her in the writing.

And accent nitpickers out there, you won't be troubled. This is a very authentic-sounding visit to Essex.