Jam

Matt Parvin clearly has an issue or two with the British educational system. The Royal Court writer’s previous play, ‘You Maverick’, dealt with bullying and homophobia at an Oxford college, while this, his follow-up, examines class and racial tensions through the prism of a teacher-student relationship. Bella (Jasmine Hyde) finds herself reunited with former pupil Kane (Harry Melling), whose errant, ADHD-afflicted behaviour resulted in her suspension 10 years earlier. As skeleton after skeleton is unearthed, it becomes clear what happened isn’t as cut-and-dry as all that.

The central theme here is one of mutual culpability: both are perpetrators, both are victims. Kane might be a feckless product of a dysfunctional, underprivileged home, but he’s still responsible for his cruelty and racism; Bella might be middle-class and liberal but she’s not above snobbery (given away by her description of the school as ‘state, but not too state’). But you get the sense Parvin struggled to make the transition to crafting a full 90 minutes of drama. The endless oscillating between truce and stand-off loses steam, while director Tommo Fowler might have tempered his approach a little: the endlessly raised voices start to devalue themselves.

Both Hyde and Melling apply themselves with gusto (the latter in particular, all drool and twitching hands), while Emma Bailey’s climbing frame set is suitably scholastic. Above all else, it’s Parvin’s refusal to draw moral conclusions that should be be lauded. It’ll be interesting to see what he’s got planned next – the intrigue, backbiting and simmering tensions of a kindergarten classroom, perhaps? Okay, probably not.