Mercurial Takeover: Lessons Learnt

Megan is a bright young thing. The fresh-faced head of the history department is on track to be the youngest member of the senior leadership team. She’s worked her way to the front of the classroom and is the archetypal success story for her proud parents. An unexpected event forces her to confront her position, as she learns more than a lesson from one of her pupils.

In this one-woman show, the conflict between the system and the individual is laid bare. Megan must face the treatment of girls in her school who have assumptions made about them before they arrive and whose opportunities might never be equal. Lessons Learnt puts some of the crimes against women and girls that have been reported in our schools centre stage.

Written by an ex-teacher, Lessons Learnt is the inside story, showing what it is like to work in a system that sees pupils as numbers on a spreadsheet and behaviour as a points-based game to be lost and won. It explores what happens when teachers are primed to lead before they are trained to teach.

When sexual assault seeps its way into the corridors of her school, Megan’s experience of one girl’s story will change her perspective forever.

Content to consider: This play contains themes including sexual assault, violence and substance abuse.