To Sir, With Love

Dartford’s Orchard Theatre

Attitudes in schools have changed considerably over the years. At one time corporal punishment was freely available for problem pupils. Nowadays, teachers are addressed by their first names and are liable to have their collars felt if there is any physical contact.

At my school the cane, slipper, ruler or a clip around the ear was meted out with alacrity for the slightest misdemeanour. On occasions an incandescent technical drawing teacher was not averse to propelling boys across the desks or hurling the odd compass.

In the play adaptation of E R Braithwaite’s autobiographical 1959 novel To Sir, With Love, featuring a school in post-war London, headmaster Florian adopts a somewhat laissez-faire stance, eschewing discipline and encouraging kids to write reports on teachers.

Along comes novice Ricky Braithwaite like a lamb to the slaughter to bomb ravaged Stepney in the late 1940s to take charge, if that’s the right word, of a class of delinquents who have driven his predecessor out for a nervous breakdown.

Add to the mix that our hero is a black scholar who has encountered racial discrimination at every step and the scene is set for tantrums, tears and ultimately, of course, triumph.

Ansu Kabia, who bears a fair resemblance to the handsome 1967 film hero Sidney Poitier as Mr Braithwaite, is the central figure and undoubted star of the play as he slowly but surely grinds down the dirty dozen in his class and teaches them both manners and respect.

Matthew Kelly plays a somewhat secondary role as the insouciant headteacher but has again shown that he has well and truly moved on from such frivolous shows as Stars in their Eyes.

Paul Kemp’s bigoted but often amusing teacher Weston, Mykola Allen’s thuggish dimwit Denham, Harriet Ballard’s shrieking cockney schoolgirl, whose vocabulary featured the word bleeding for the most part, all add to the strong cast.

The children jig and jive about to provide a welcome break from the war of attrition being waged early on involving desk slamming and insolence.

The first half sagged in places but then built nicely for some genuinely moving scenes in the second act, when the class reveal a compassionate side over the death of their black friend’s mother and grow to love their crusading teacher.

Top marks for this production.

To Sir, With Love is at the Orchard until Saturday, November 30. Tickets from £10. Call 01322 220000 or visit www.orchardtheatre.co.uk.