SHOW DELVES INTO FLAWS OF EDUCATION
A SHOW written, directed and produced by Dani Cripps will explore the flaws of the education system.
Based in a dysfunctional high school, the plot follows a piece of department technology which forces the school’s students and teachers to act out scenes from each other’s lives and show empathy or the robot will kill them.
“The robot represents the education system because he gives us complex situations with hundreds of answers, but he can only see one right answer in his mind,” Ms Cripps said.
“I believe there isn’t a place for students who don’t fit into the (current) school system because it’s really designed for a particular type of student.”
The unique concept is what enticed real-life teacher Sarah Holcombe to join the production’s cast of six, playing a high school teacher who is experiencing burnout.
“Mrs Westlake is certainly not Mrs Holcombe, and we are two very different operators in the classroom, but the one thing that drew me to it was showing how teaching is difficult, but also very rewarding,” she said.
“For me it really is the little things I grasp onto as a teacher – it could just be a student who wrote the letter P correctly for the first time, but seeing their eyes light up with that sense of achievement is such an incredible feeling.”
Throughout the show, Ms Cripps will facilitate a discussion with audience members and allow them to share their own opinions and experiences of the sector.
The production is on at the Empire Theatre studio on Thursday and Friday, at 7.30pm. Buy tickets to
Kill All The Teachers at empiretheatre.com.au.