Celebrated Writer, Ayub Khan-Din (East Is East)’s adaptation of To Sir With Love came to Bradford’s Alhambra where Leo Owen caught the show
Jazzy music plays as kids run riot in a classroom, all the while cleverly moving props and furniture around the set. A simple backdrop depicts the crumbling buildings of poorer pockets of bomb-ravaged London. Meanwhile in the school’s staffroom there’s talk of a teacher’s recent walkout.
Three years after the end of WW2, West Indian Cambridge Physics student, E. R. Braithwaite, struggled against prejudice to secure a job as an engineer. To Sir With Love is based on his largely autobiographical novel, describing growing up in the Commonwealth and his accidental vocation as a teacher at St George In The East Secondary School.
Khan-Din’s stage play begins with Braithwaite (Ansu Kabia) accepting the teaching post, only to be told he’ll be taking over “Packman’s class” – a group whose very existence necessitates prayer (“May the Lord God have mercy on your soul”). Meeting the pupils, Braithwaite is shocked by their negativity, lack of self-respect and extremely deprived upbringings. Initially he struggles to connect with them, trying a variety of approaches, eventually he bonds with his students, culminating in the show’s weepy finale.
Although Braithwaite’s students are a lively bunch, it’s the school’s extremely progressive headmaster, Mr Florian, who quietly dominates proceedings. Based on innovative educator, Alex Bloom, Florian is played by Matthew Kelly who presents him as a manic fast-talking man way ahead of his time in his extremely contemporary proposals for personalised education and his anti-corporal punishment stance. Florian believes education must be “organic” and that “rules have a habit of ruling”, allowing the kids to run the school and write reports about their teachers.
Khan-Din cleverly uses the pupils’ dance club to make major scene changes fluid, detracting from prop removal. Locations are bought to life simply: a bell sound and change in stance symbolises Braithwaite’s morning commute. Audience imagination is relied on for location movements but convincing performances from an equally talented cast make the job easy.
Cynical racist Mr Weston (Paul Kemp) acts as a constant reminder of the prevailing anti-immigrant feeling during the late 1940s, repeatedly talking of Braithwaite “working his black magic” and making shocking inappropriate remarks: “I saw your lot doing track in the Olympics”. The tragic family circumstances of Braithwaite’s student Seales (Kerron Darby) also highlights how segregated British society actually was in the aftermath of WW2. Despite the play being set after the holocaust, both staff, like Weston, and pupils display anti-semitic views and Braithwaite’s first hand experiences of colonial British Guyana lead to some interesting reflections on the British Empire.
Although the play is predominantly serious viewing, there are moments of light-relief. Breezy Home Economics teacher Clinty (Nicola Reynolds) gives Braithwaite the benefit of her years of experience: “Teaching my dears – front line stuff; You’re well and truly in the trenches here.” Braithwaite’s love interest, new teacher Gillian (Peta Cornish), injects humour to their first staffroom meeting, offering him biscuits made by first years who “haven’t quite grasped the concept of hygiene”. Class clown, Denham (Mykola Allen) spouts out gobby one-liners while Pamela (Heather Nicol) is sweet on Braithwaite and mouthy Monica (Harriet Ballard) acts as Denham’s female counterpart.
All very inspiring, To Sir With Love is hard-going at times but extremely moving as well as funny. Depicting the complexities of inter-racial relationships at a time when immigrants were viewed extremely suspiciously and classist snobs desperately tried to protect their position in society. Despite the show’s slightly long running time, Braithwaite’s source material is certainly life-affirming stuff with particularly moving epiphany moments and a tear-jerking final speech.
To Sir With Love ran at The Alhambra between November 5-9 before touring.