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Play 18: Class Enemy by Nigel Williams

First performed: Royal Court Theatre, London, 1978

Quote: "Lissen. Ol' Iron wants a lesson. Right? So. Woss ter stop us teachin'? You never know. We might learn sunnink." (Sky-light)

Stage direction: [Drying up. In danger of betraying some feeling.]

Notable cast: Phil Daniels originated the role of Iron, while Daniel Day-Lewis took the part for a 1980 production at the Old Vic. The debut cast included Brian Croucher and Perry Benson.

Notes: an acerbic, often shocking denunciation of societal failings in late 70s, inner city London; specifically Williams is tackling education and deprived youth, but it's clear that his remit is actually much larger and that a culture of abandonment and poverty (financial, but also a poverty of intelligence, of care and empathy) is his real target. Critics drew comparisons with both Waiting for Godot and Golding's Lord of the Flies, and I understand why, but both comparisons rather miss the point: Class Enemy was a reflection of something actually happening, there and then, and which to our shame continues to happen across a UK which is as divided and unequal as it ever was. Williams' style - the heavy, near phonetic rendering of the boy's accents and vernacular - takes a little time to get used to, and some of the references have naturally dated the play. In other respects it remains horribly, powerfully resonant.

Read: for the first time

#100plays #class enemy #nigel williams #1978 #modern drama #modern theatre #theatre quotes

Sweetheart: Sex, boys and girls, is a matter a' one a vese findin' one a' vese an' 'en 'ammerin' back an' forward like a steam 'ammer fer a couple a' minutes. Any questions?

Iron: Vis still don' rung chroo ter me Sweet'eart.

Sweetheart: Sex is wot 'appens when a boy bumble bee buzzes 'frough ver fields in summer an' sees a flower. When 'e sees ver flower, ver bumble bee buzzes up to it an' 'overs over it. Ven 'e fucks it rigid. Thass sex. Oh - an' birds do it an' all.

Nigel Williams, Class Enemy (1978)

#100plays #class enemy #modern drama #nigel williams #theatre quotes #modern theatre #sweetheart is an interesting character. he's probably the least developed of the boys‚ or at least the one about whom the least is learnt #acting more as an uneasy middleman between the pairings of Skylight and Racks‚ and Iron and Nipper #but i think it's significant that in the introductory stage directions Sweetheart is described as the smartest (in terms of appearance not #intelligence) and 'prettiest' of the boys. there isn't a great deal of significant dialogue from him‚ but there's enough that could #make an argument for him being (quite subtly) queer coded. his nickname as well (the boys all seem to have accepted their #nicknames and consider them their 'real' names)#could be interpreted as a comment on possible flamboyance or campness (something which isn't exactly directly found in the text #but which would be very easy to affect in performance of the role). at the same time it isn't so textual that a production would by #necessity play the part as gay; and equally i might be reaching. but it's interesting to consider.#oh and the reason i mention flamboyance; Sweetheart is also the most theatrical of the boys. each teaches a lesson and whilst he goes #first he's also the only one (barring Skylight‚ who uses a very different approach) to try and inhabit the role of Teacher as a performance #he also briefly mentions his affinity for impressions #including Angela Rippon (then perhaps best known for her show stealing turn on the 1976 Morecambe and Wise xmas #special‚ where she emerged from behind her newsdesk to perform a seductive dance...)

Sweetheart: 'Ey. They ain't gonna leave us 'ere ter die are they?

Sky-light: 'Course vey ain't.

Iron: 'Ow joo know?

Sky-light: 'Cos I know. Vere teachers ain't they? 'Ass their job. Ter look after us.

Iron: They can't look after us though can they?

Sweetheart: I mean it ain't -

Sky-light: They can keep chryin'.

Nigel Williams, Class Enemy (1978)

#100plays #class enemy #nigel williams #1978 #modern drama #theatre quotes #modern theatre #on a surface level‚ Class Enemy can be read as a criticism of state education in 70s Britain; of teachers who don't or won't care and of #students left behind. really‚ though‚ Williams is identifying only a symptom‚ not the disease. the teachers in this school don't care #because they can't care; they simply do not have the resources to care about boys like Iron and Nipper‚ 'problem' students who #demand a level of help and attention way beyond what this school can provide. it's teased out slowly through the play but the #chaos and destruction isn't confined to this one smashed up classroom; it's in the corridors and the playground‚ in the streets outside #and the homes of the children and the homes of their friends. the teachers can't care because the school won't let them. the school can't #care because the council won't let them. the council can't care because the government won't let them. Williams' real target‚ the root of #his ire‚ is society itself. the society of England‚ 1978; of racism and poverty and need and hunger and a hundred thousand unmet promises #and a thousand million unhappy souls. the playwright isn't taking teachers to task any more than he's identifying a a problem they're #unequipped and unable to solve. and that's the other key thing here: Williams isn't offering his own screed‚ his own solution to the issue #because he doesn't have it. and he knows he doesn't. like the knowledge that Iron so desperately cries for towards the end of the play #but which he cannot articulate exactly what knowledge he requires or how; it's a mistake to read this play as any kind of sly critique of #teaching or teachers. it's a primal howl of rage and confusion at the lack of... everything. food‚ housing‚ jobs‚ empathy #care‚ love‚ understanding. it's an expression of grief not a treatise on coping.

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Sweetheart: Why don't we fuck off Iron? Why don't we just fuck off aht of it?

Iron: To?

Sweetheart: 'Ome.

Iron: Thass why.

Nigel Williams, Class Enemy (1978)

#100plays #class enemy #nigel williams #1978 #modern drama #theatre quotes #modern theatre #this exchange happens very early in act one and apparently signals the kind of difficult homelife that an audience might expect from #a group of delinquent teens like those in the play; actually‚ in a nice moment of realism‚ the kids all have very different experiences of #living at home‚ which is only teased out slowly and subtextually during the course of the play #Racks in particular speaks quite fondly (if a little sadly) of his father #but the issue of 'home' isn't an homogeneous one in which all the boys have difficult relationships with their parents #they have different backgrounds but all share the same lack: lack of opportunity‚ comfort‚ safety even #they are all deprived‚ tho in different ways deprived of different things

Iron: 'E was a cunt. Worse van a fuckin' social worker. Worse. Never even fuckin' taught us anyfing. Jus' 'urban' 'iss an' 'urban' that an' fuckin' essays abaht woch yoo done lars' Sat'day. I don' call that ejucation.

Sky-light: Woch yoo call ejucation Iron?

Iron: Me. I'm ejucation. I'm an ejucation fer fuckin' anyone.

Nigel Williams, Class Enemy (1978)

#100plays #class enemy #nigel Williams #1978 #modern drama #modern theatre #theatre quotes #bad language #excessive swearing #idk how else to tag?

Sky-light: Woss in store eh? I wonder. Woss in store?

Iron: Fuck all's in store.

Racks: Why we stay Sky-light?

Sky-light: Sunning ter do innit.

Nigel Williams, Class Enemy (1978)

#100plays #Nigel Williams #Class Enemy #Modern drama #Theatre #Modern theatre #Theatre quotes #1978 #Set entirely within one badly defaced classroom within a rundown S. London comprehensive school‚ full of foul language and shocking #Violence as a group of near savage school pupils nearly tear one another apart‚ Class Enemy was something of a cause célèbre on #Its first production‚ and remains wellt regarded (and probably Williams' best known work for the stage‚ he being better known as a novelist #And sometimes scriptwriter). It's undoubtedly powerful‚ and its scathing‚ heartfelt critique of the state of 70s inner city #Schooling was timely and well placed (although the suggestion‚ which I've seen before‚ that Williams was in particular criticising the #State of schooling under Thatcher is... Well‚ put it this way: she wasn't PM in 1978.)#Anyway where was I. Oh yes‚ so I appreciate the message and the purpose and even the delivery to a point #But i also think it's worth noting that Williams himself went to a rather nicer school than the one in his play #And had‚ generally‚ a much more comfortable and middle class background than the teens he's writing #Not always a criticism but I must say his decision to write the entire play in near phonetics of the (presumed‚ one...presumes)#Style and vernacular of working class South London teens of the 1970s (Williams was 30 when he wrote the play)... Idk #I'm not sure I'm making any point at all‚ except that I think it's correct to keep a certain degree of wariness and an eyebrow raised while #Reading this. And to wonder exactly how familiar with his subject Williams was. At least how they talked anyway #That being said‚ this early exchange between the boys is beautiful in its simplicity and in how it seems to summarise not just the play #But a whole... Era‚ a time and place of great divide and great wasted potential‚ and of a generation where too many were left behind #As they have been since and were before and perhaps may be for time immemorial

‘’You rebelled. To begin with, all of you. Then you discovered that it's perhaps not all so black and white. That things are not that simple. And you argued with each other. Because you couldn't make a decision that would suit everyone. Because there is no such decision. I never talked very much about Sabina, because she made her decision. Bad, good, the only one possible - I don't know. But it was hers. So you don't know what you want to study. You don't know what you want to eat. What music you like. Whether to do a test or not. So how are you going to decide between life and death? How are you going to judge what is really important in life? Did I trust you too much and make a mistake? Did I trust you too little? I don't know. But I never made the decision for you. You had the chance to grow through the tragedy you encountered. Now you are leaving this school without knowing if you made the right decision. You will never know. Because you didn't trust yourselves and the person in yourselves. You thought that through Sabina's tragedy you could show how the system doesn't work. No, the system works. The system always worked and always will work. Because the system is cold, inexorable and mathematical. But if you're sufficiently solid inside, you're a stone in the river that is untroubled by the rushing water. You, on the other hand, are drowning, grabbing every branch that passes in panic. But that branch is also going with the river. And so on until the end of your life. Those who decide to find the bank, will find it. What happened can't be changed. All you can do is change yourself enough to understand and accept things. Sabina is still dead. And you are back at square one. This is our last lesson, as you know. And I'm not going with you on your leavers' trip. I wish you all the best in life.’’ - The Class Enemy, 2013 (dir. Rok Bicek; screenplay: Nejc Gazvoda, Rok Bicek, Janez Lapajne)

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