 When I Kissed the Teacher may be one of the shorter offerings at this year’s Fringe, but in its brief running time it takes us on a searing, unsettling journey through the memories of its protagonist.
Laura, player by Fenella Parkinson, appears before us as a university student but her crisp white shirt, loosened school tie, and hitched-up dress make it clear she has stepped back into the skin of her teenage self. In this liminal space between past and present, she re-inhabits the moments when her teacher, Mr Fletcher, groomed her. What began as playful classroom exchanges and seemingly benign help with a university application slowly and yet disturbingly quickly slid into a calculated seduction in a disabled school bathroom. The seduction itself is presented with a disquieting swiftness, as though this was not Mr Fletcher’s first time. Parkinson captures the contradictions that live inside such a moment: the simultaneous thrill and fear, the curiosity and confusion, the deep desire to be seen and loved. Her performance makes us feel the dissonance between what Laura believed was happening and what we, as outsiders, recognise as exploitation. The writing is sharp in its details. Laura still calls him “Mr Fletcher” decades later - a verbal tic that speaks volumes about the power an abuser can continue to exert over a victim long after the events themselves. Likewise, the choice to keep her dressed as a schoolgirl hints at the way trauma can freeze a part of someone’s identity in time, trapping them in the moment of their abuse. The play’s structure lets us see how memory is not a clean replay but a vivid, messy entanglement of feelings, images, and aftershocks. Lee Hutchison When I Kissed The Teacher Venue: Pickle Studio at Greenside @ Riddles Court Dates: August 15-16 Time: 1020 Tickets: www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/when-i-kissed-the-teacher |
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