Brian and Donna’s son is nine years old and he’s struggling. That’s what his teacher says. Says he should see a psychologist. But Brian and Donna – recently separated – never liked school, never liked teachers.
An explosive triple confrontation that is funny, heartbreaking and beautifully observed, Iseult Golden and David Horan’s CLASS is an award-winning play about learning difficulties: in school, in life, wherever.
After a sold-out run in the Dublin Theatre Festival 2017, the play transferred to the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, in January 2018 before playing in the Traverse Theatre as part of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2018.
CLASS won an Edinburgh Fringe First Award and was named Best Theatre Script at the 2018 ZeBBie Awards awarded by the Writers Guild of Ireland.
‘A passionate 21st-century tragedy… an utterly credible, humorous yet heartbroken snapshot of a western culture in which, for some men, issues of gender, class and power can now form an utterly toxic mix of rage, resentment and desperation’
— Scotsman
‘Intelligent and compelling… rivetingly escalates in tension, bringing resentments about educational authority figures, working-class alienation and gender differences to the fore… a valuable piece’
— Telegraph
‘Explores the uncertain territory where prejudice, damage and failed intentions collide’
— Guardian
‘A play that kicks against an exclusionary establishment in miniature: the school a microcosm of a middle-class order’
— WhatsOnStage
‘Adeptly demonstrates the stakes that both teachers and parents can have in a child’s well-being and the stresses that teachers are placed under’
— The Stage
‘An inspired look at society through the prism of a parent-teacher meeting’
— Sunday Times Ireland
Best Theatre Script, ZeBBie Awards, Writers Guild of Ireland
Edinburgh Fringe First Award