Think of To Sir, With Love and you’re likely to think of the classsic Sixties film starring Sidney Poitier, and Lulu’s catchy title song.
But ER Braithwaite’s autobiographical novel, on which the film is based, is set in the late 1940s and addresses class and race issues relating to the post-war era.
This new theatrical production is adapted by Ayub Khan Din, writer of East Is East, who places it back in 1948.
To Sir, With Love is the story of Ricky Braithwaite, a former RAF fighter pilot and Cambridge graduate who arrives in London to find that, despite a First Class degree in electronic engineering, he is turned down for job after job.
Discovering the reality of life as a black man in post-war England, he takes the only job he can get – a teaching post in a tough but progressive East End school.
Supported by an enlightened headmaster, Florian, (played by Matthew Kelly), the determined teacher turns teenage rebelliousness into self respect, contempt into consideration and hate into love, and along the way learns he has more in common with his students than he’d realised.
Ansu Kabia, who plays Ricky, says the post-war setting brings more poignancy to the drama. The production is peppered with songs and dances from the late ’40s.
“The play is much closer to ER Braithwaite’s book, which is about a black man in a post-war world, and about working-class children in this country at that time,” he says. “These young people are unruly but haven’t had much attention given to them. They know the type of perception people have of them and they believe if that’s how the world sees them that’s all they’ll ever be.
“They’re not going to be academics or professionals, but with Ricky’s guidance they learn to be adults and take some responsibility for their own lives.
“He has to find his own way too,” adds Ansu. “He’s a calm presence in the classroom, but he’s frustrated underneath.”
Ansu enjoyed working with Ayub Khan Din – “he’s an actor so he writes for actors” – but he caused a hasty script re-write when a cycling accident left him with broken fingers and his arm in a sling.
“There was a boxing scene which Ayub had to re-write at short notice. I still can’t bend my hand but I’m getting there,” says Ansu. “I’m on stage all the time so it’s pretty exhausting but it’s a gem of a role.”
The first he knew that ER Braithwaite was in the audience for an early performance at Northampton’s Royal Derngate Theatre was when the 93-year-old author walked on stage afterwards. “I wasn’t told beforehand, which was a good thing as I’d have found it very daunting knowing he was sitting there watching me,” says Ansu, whose acting credits include roles with the Royal Shakespeare Company. “It’s a big responsibility playing a real human being.
“It’s a really exciting process to work with new writing,” he says. “To me it’s more relevant than anything else, and I enjoy the challenge of getting younger audiences in.”
To Sir With Love runs at the Alhambra from November 5 - 9. For tickets ring (01274) 432000.