INTERVIEW | 'BAD TEACHER' ERIN HOLLAND, EDINBURGH FESTIVAL FRINGE

The countdown to the world's biggest arts festival Edinburgh Festival Fringe is on and arrives next month for its 75th anniversary. Between 5 - 29 August you can enjoy a diverse selection of work from across the UK in Scotland's capital city. 

Ahead of the festival, I have fantastic interviews coming up from some of the acts who will be heading there to showcase their work.

Today's interview comes from Erin Holland to chat about her high-energy dark comedy Bad Teacher which is coming to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in August. 

So to begin with, tell us where your interest in theatre came from?

My whole family is Irish so we are from a culture that is very interested in storytelling in its many forms. My Dad is also a huge Theatre, TV & Film buff so I grew up watching a lot of old films and TV shows from the 60s, 70s & 80s. I also grew up in North West London so with the west end on our doorstep my mum and dad took me to see plays on a regular basis and I fell head over heels in love with absolutely everything about the Theatre. 

What is really interesting is you are a writer/performer but also a Head of Drama at a London Secondary school. How do you balance the commitments that each of these roles has attached to them?

It’s definitely not easy balancing a teacher’s workload with my ‘side hustle’ as I like to call it, but the two areas very much go hand in hand. It’s a lot of extra evening and weekend work and sometimes I’m so exhausted from the long school day I don’t really feel like writing. But if I’m honest, I wouldn’t be able to do any type of balancing act without Grace.

Not only is she a phenomenal director and producer but as the co-creator of our Theatre Company, The Queens of Cups, she makes everything run like a well oiled machine! We’ll have lots of video calls in the evenings or sometimes while I’m on lunch at school (although these calls are often comically interrupted by students bursting into my classroom) and we’ll brainstorm ideas and create to do lists for the week together. Grace makes it all possible. 

Do you think it is important to use your role as Head of Drama to influence and inspire the young people you work with? 

Most definitely! Arts subjects have been battling the conservative government’s constant reshaping of the education system and the enforcement of the Ebacc for the last decade. The number of students taking GCSE drama have dropped 30% since 2010 and A Level drama numbers have plummeted 49%! As a Head of Drama, I now need to work twice as hard to engage young people with the subject and inspire them to use their voices through creativity. Everyday I am fighting for students, parents, and teachers alike to understand how valuable Theatre is as a tool for social change, in developing pupils' critical skills, and as a viable source of economic growth in the UK.  

You have used your experience as a former teacher in your piece Bad Teacher which is heading to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival next month. What encouraged you to build a piece of theatre from such a wide range of topics?

I wrote Bad Teacher in 2019 for an assignment while studying for my MA in Playwriting. I had always wanted to write a One Woman Show that I could perform myself and with a little push from Grace, who was studying for her MA in directing at the time, and with Edinburgh Fringe in mind, I set off writing. I have always felt that a school is a hotbed of eccentric characters, drama, politics, and genuine daily comic moments. This setting alongside writing from my own personal experiences and stories I felt was a winning combination for me. 

What are some of the different topics you touch on in your piece and how did you condense them into a tight time frame which will have an impact?

Bad Teacher explores a plethora of topics; cuts to arts education, relationships, mental health, social media, body image, and the politics of being a 20-something woman in our current climate. All of which have been condensed into a 45-minute show that reflects the fast-paced, action packed day in the life of a teacher. Our intended impact is that the audience feel as though they are in Evie’s classroom with her and riding the emotional rollercoaster that is a school day. We want them to leave the show having gained an insight into some of the daily obstacles, challenges, and issues that a teacher needs to continuously battle and adapt to. 

Bad Teacher is described as a dark comedy, what elements of it make it dark?

Without giving too much away the show takes very real problems and uses comedy and satire to highlight and critique the issues that teachers are facing every day. Such as a pool going in the staff room on which teachers will have the next stress induced emotional breakdown and a war zone at parents' evenings with staff members being strung up and waterboarded or threatened with grenades by parents wanting their kids to get into the top universities. I have always felt that using comedy in this way not only entertains but allows an audience to develop a critical awareness of your play’s message. 

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Where will our next generation of writers, directors, actors, singers, designers, and artists come from if our education system forces its students to believe that the only road to success is through Science, Maths & English?

There is a huge impact on funding cuts to the arts right now - especially in training opportunities for young people. How are you seeing the results of the cuts firsthand in the education sector?

So I earned my PGCE in Drama with English in 2016, as the individual Drama PGCE no longer existed. I paid £10,000 in fees while working in schools four days a week for a year, receiving no salary or extra funding, whereas my counterparts training in subjects like Science and Maths would receive a bursary equivalent to a year’s starting salary.

The Tory bred Ebacc focuses on core subjects and humanities, forcing pupils to choose only one Arts subject, creating a long term negative impact on the wellbeing and future prospects of young people. The conservatives are currently trying to discourage young people and Arts teachers from training, exacerbating the country’s teacher retention issue and it begs the question - Where will our next generation of writers, directors, actors, singers, designers, and artists come from if our education system forces its students to believe that the only road to success is through Science, Maths & English?


Why do you believe the government make cuts to the arts specifically rather than other sectors?

I think that through their Ebacc, the Government has created their own climate and evidence to make cuts in this area. They have orchestrated a situation in which students can only now choose one arts subject meaning GCSE and A Level numbers will inevitably fall. And with uptake down, they have their excuse to make such cuts. They are generating a nationwide school culture that treats Arts subjects as unimportant, relegating them to an extracurricular activity, or having them absorbed by other subjects like English or removed from the curriculum entirely.

The arts are so important - especially for young people. They make a huge impact on their mental and physical health so it is really frustrating to see how the landscape is shifting. What do you think needs to be done and how can people reading this maybe get involved in making the arts sustain this tough time?

I couldn’t agree more. And I think in this case both individual and collective action is needed. 

First of all voting - we are in this mess as over the past 12 years, Michael Gove led a charge of Conservative Education Secretaries, all trying to leave their stamp on education policy by reshaping the British curriculum to the detriment of the Arts. How are you voting? And how is your local MP voting on these issues?

Go to the theatre - I think there is a misconception that going to the theatre is ‘too costly’ however, families and young people can see theatre without breaking the bank. I would encourage people to research their local theatres and see what deals they have. For example many theatres offer schemes for much cheaper tickets for students and under 26’s or under 30’s.

And most importantly schools, both parents and teachers need to demand that schools place more importance on arts subjects, that they make time and funding for school productions that can nurture and showcase talents, that clearer links are being made between taking an arts subject and the variety of career options this could lead to in an Arts and Culture sector that contributes £8-10 billion to the UK economy annually.

How do you feel about performing in the Edinburgh Fringe Festival this year?

I am beyond excited to be heading to Edinburgh for the summer! This is my first year to ever perform at Fringe and although I’m nervous, I can’t wait to be in such a hub of creativity and surrounded by people who feel the same way about the arts as I do, sharing our work with one another, networking and using theatre as a tool for social change. I just know it will be such an incredible feeling.


Why is this festival important for people to see and support during August?

I think the theatre and entertainment industry went through the ringer in the pandemic. Its doors were closed, theatres were shut down, thousands lost their jobs and the industry was brought to its knees. But the beauty is it adapted to become more digital, the community bonded over the sudden loss of live theatre and now Fringe is back and it’s turning 75! Everyone LOVES a comeback story and there is so much to celebrate here this year and more importantly so much to fight for. But we can’t do any of this without an audience, so now more than ever with the world feeling like it’s on fire (and in this heatwave some of it genuinely is), people need theatre and theatre needs people.


Besides your show, are there any that you’d recommend that people go and watch during the festival?

Yes! I’m really excited to see a number of shows but my top 3 recommendations would be: 

Sticky Door by Katie Arnstein - This was one of the last shows I saw at The Vault festival in 2020 before lockdown took us all and it was superb.