Educator’s a class act
Improvisation is at the heart of a local comedy show that’s set in one of the most dysfunctional schools imaginable, finds Chris Schulz.
When Rick Donald steps onto the set of TVNZ comedy series Educators, he never knows what’s about to come out of his mouth. That’s because there are no scripts and few plot points written in advance for the show, a black comedy that follows a group of misfit teachers working at an Auckland school.
Instead, stars are encouraged to make everything up as they go along.
Donald, who plays passive-aggressive PE teacher Vinnie, admits he’s often shocked by what he ends up saying.
‘‘Sometimes it takes me by surprise,’’ says the Australian actor.
‘‘You think, ‘I’m uncovering some deep s...’ I should probably talk to my psychologist.’’
This year has delivered plenty of top-quality local comedy series, including Golden Boy, Mean Mums, Taskmaster NZ and Late Night Big Breakfast.
But Educators might be the funniest of them all. Having started as a skit between the show’s leads Jackie van Beek and Jonny Brugh, it has expanded to a full cast that includes big names like Kura Forrester, Josh Thomson and Tom Sainsbury, and has just finished its second season on TVNZ OnDemand.
But Educators isn’t made like any other local TV show.
Instead of months-long filming stints, the show’s core cast congregate at Henderson’s Bruce McLaren Intermediate in Auckland during school holidays and on weekends, filming scenes as and when actors are available.
Like Larry David’s Curb Your Enthusiasm, there are no scripted lines, few plot points are mapped out, and scenes are crafted on the fly. And that’s just how Donald likes it. ‘‘When they call, ‘Cut,’ I’m devastated. I want to keep going. I would keep going if I could,’’ he says. ‘‘I love every minute of it.’’
Donald has become a cult favourite among Educators’ fans, a clear-cut villain with his Australian accent, violent outbursts, student bullying and prison past.
‘‘If you took the jokes out, this character could be quite scary,’’ he agrees.
This season alone, Vinnie has sung a love song to a student in the sports shed, lost his drug dealer in a rock climbing accident, force-fed a student doughnuts, and encouraged binge-drinking during school camp.
But the Australian actor, also known for his work on 800 Words, says the scene that stands out most was filming a men’s help group session in a school hall.
‘‘I talk about being in prison with a guy called ‘Bushy’. I have no idea where Bushy and all of that s... came from. I’ve never been to prison, I’ve never met a Bushy. When you’re in the heat of the scene, stuff just comes up,’’ he says.
‘‘You don’t have time to prepare anything. You’ve just got to go on your instinct and trust yourself to react in a truthful way.’’
Donald is yet to see the finished show – he’s been filming in Sydney and Educators isn’t screening in Australia yet.
But he believes audiences only see ‘‘10 per cent of what we actually shoot’’.
The show’s director, Jesse Griffin, agrees that editing Educators down to 15-minute episodes can be a challenge.
‘‘So much gold ends up not in it,’’ he says. ‘‘Everything’s got to earn its place. It’s got to be funny, and there’s a really clear tone that we’re trying to stick to.
‘‘It has to be real, that ‘fly-on-the-wall’ style, kind of like a documentary. There are these rules you don’t want to cross. It can be brutal.’’
To give him all those options, Griffin tells actors to just keep talking – in character – as the cameras roll. And they can roll for a really long time.
‘‘The way I shoot, we don’t ever cut. An average take would be maybe eight or 12 minutes. The longest take we ever did was 45 minutes on one of those staff meetings,’’ he says.
‘‘You find these detailed little nuggets of story that pepper the whole series, these specific, beautiful, lovely little tangents.’’
Donald says many actors would struggle with the level of improv encouraged by Griffin.
For him, it’s ‘‘the best thing you can do. It’s the best way to act.
‘‘When they asked me to come back for another season, I couldn’t get there quick enough.’’
Griffin says the show hasn’t yet been renewed for a third season, but he’s hopeful.
‘‘I’d be slightly surprised if we don’t. In this crazy world that we’re in you can never take anything for granted.’’
For now, he’s taking the few moments of public recognition he gets as a good sign.
The other day, Griffin was walking along a beach when he was approached by two men.
‘‘They said, ‘Hey, you’re that guy that does that show about the teachers. We’ve been teachers for 30 years and it’s brilliant, we love it, it feels so real’.
‘‘I love it. It’s great. You just want to make something that you like and that people like and that’s saying something about the world and the human condition.’’
‘‘You’ve just got to go on your instinct and trust yourself to react ina truthful way.’’ Rick Donald, left
Educators is streaming on TVNZ OnDemand.