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A Higher Education

Angela Pressland

Genre: Drama

Cast size: 4

Duration: 105 mins approx

Angela Pressland | Drama | One Act | 2m, 2f

Short synopsis

One continuous Act but a Two Act split is provided.
Patrick is suffering in his job and in his private life, and he badly needs comfort - female comfort. Summer is determined to complete her university degree, and if she can't get the money one way, she will try another. Their encounter is explosive for both of them.

  • Synopsis
  • Characters
  • Reviews

Patrick is suffering in his personal and professional life. A broken man in need of female comfort, he arrives at a London brothel, harbouring a dark secret. When the madam (Eleanor) stumbles across a letter in his belongings - the contents of which could lead to his imprisonment – she decides to use it to blackmail him.

With the brothel 'bouncer' (Casio) installed outside the room, Patrick meets the young, black prostitute, Summer. He is shocked when he recognises her as Bethany Yates - an ex-pupil from the school where he still teaches. Without any help from the State or her parents, Summer has been struggling to pay her way through university, and has now turned to the sex industry. Debt-laden and having been promised a regular high-paying client if she pleases Patrick, Summer is anxious to get down to business.

Meanwhile, an uncomfortable Patrick secretly hopes he can spend their hour together just talking. They reminisce about Summer's time at school, and speak candidly about her work at the brothel, and student prostitution. Patrick tells of his failed marriage and the difficulties arising from teaching celebrity-obsessed teenage girls in a society that sexualises them from an early age.

But Summer's chance discovery of a girl's blazer in Patrick's luggage soon changes everything, and with Summer wearing the blazer, they act out what she initially believes to be Patrick's fantasy of a sexual encounter with one of his pupils. It is not long before she discovers that this fantasy is firmly rooted in reality, and in the frequently explosive exchanges that follow (including one that leaves Patrick bloodied and unconscious), she gradually learns the whole horrifying truth.

2m, 2f

  • Patrick Jarvis- mid-forties, handsome, world-weary
  • Eleanor- fifty-two, hard-bitten, a looker in her day
  • Summer(Bethany Yates) - nineteen, pretty, black
  • Casio- eighteen, man-mountain, ungainly

The NewsMike Allen

Degrees of seductiveness

The winner of Bench Theatre's 'state of the nation' play competition, held to mark its 40th anniversary, is a powerful and often entertaining work although not without flaws. In two hours of real-time action played without interval, writer Angela Pressland shrewdly dribbles out her revelations in such a way as to make it difficult for the reviewer to say too much about the plot without spoiling it for later audiences. But it covers a lot of ground, including teacher/student relationships, fantasy and reality, racism, fashion and today's craving for instant gratification.

The setting is a brothel where a middle-aged man, on his nervous first visit, encounters a confident not-quite-20 woman trying to pay her way through university. Director Jacquie Penrose and an outstanding cast negotiate some tricky waters with skill - without over-statement but with natural feeling for the big emotional sequences as well as comedy. Above all, Roger Wallsgrove and Charmaine Barker give the principal characters a fine mixture of anger and compassion - and it is arguably the sense of compassion that runs most potently through the play. Melanie Cole and Callum West complete the cast.

remotegoatJill Lawrie

Explosive take on higher education

The 40th anniversary of Bench Theatre continues with their production of a new play representing the current decade. A Higher Education, under the banner 'State of the Nation' is the winner of their third playwriting competition. Angela Pressland is an exciting new playwright, who has already seen success with the broadcasting of a prize-winning story and performances of two of her short plays at the Churchill Theatre in Bromley. She began writing in 2005 and intends to study for a degree in Theatre Studies. Working alongside the Director, Jacquie Penrose, this world premiere has introduced us to an exciting duo.

The play is a marathon - almost 2 uninterrupted hours of explosive intense emotions ranging from guilt and frustration to racism and humiliation. Patrick, a teacher and valued member of staff, is experiencing problems and deep fears in his private life and as an antidote decides to seek female comfort! Summer, a university student, in order to fund her higher education, is supplementing her meagre resources by working at the brothel! Explosive exchanges ensue and the consequential outpouring of impassioned feelings are let loose.

This small cast of 4 really brought the piece to life. Melanie Cole (Eleanor) excelled as the 'Madame', as she reassured the inhibited teacher on his introduction to the 'boudoir'. Roger Wallsgrove (Patrick Jarvis), a newcomer to Bench Theatre, was outstanding. His sheer volume of dialogue and range of emotions was exceptional as he laid bare his frisson of desire! Equally impressive was the stunning Charmaine Barker (Summer). The comfortable ease with which she taunted and consoled the older man was remarkable.

This was a compelling piece of drama encompassing the worrying trend of students joining the sex industry to fund their degrees! Bench Theatre consistently produce challenging contemporary works and this was no exception. The performance was well supported, and is highly recommended.

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A Higher Education

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Director's Notes from the original production
September 2009
A Higher Education by Angela Pressland is the worthy winner of the Bench's 40th Anniversary Playwriting Competition. Directing it is a rare and welcome opportunity to work on a brand new play, with the added bonus of having the playwright on hand to offer comment, encouragement and insight. It is a different way of working; the play has no performance history, so all the decisions about interpretation are being made from scratch for the first time. In other productions, the director and cast can merrily launch into 'an interpretation' confident there is no one to contradict them. Here, there is another important voice - the playwright. She knows her script, knows what lay behind the characters and their words, knows why it is structured the way it is, knows what it is the play is trying to say. This becomes both a valuable resource and a challenge. What if we disagree? Which of course we do, sometimes. I read the text and come to a conclusion - Angela sees that moment differently. So far (we're at the half way point at the time of writing) we always work it out. We discuss it, the cast contribute, and the words on the page slowly come to life. Of course also at this midpoint the cast's biggest concern is getting on top of the lines; once that sticky point is over we can continue the enjoyable and rewarding process of bringing this new script to life for a new audience. I hope we do it justice.

Jacquie Penrose

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