God Bless the Child

Description

When he was small and his parents told him if he was good he would get a sweet, the boy knew it was not true. Getting the sweet had nothing to do with being good. 'Badger Do Best' has landed, bringing with it a new world of rules and regulations. But the kids in the classroom are fighting back. Tired of being guinea pigs in yet another government scheme, can the class of 4N bring down the education regime set to pacify them? After years working in the classroom, Molly Davies imagines a mutiny of eight-year-olds in her play commissioned by the Royal Court. God Bless the Child received its world premiere in the Upstairs space on 12 November 2014, directed by Royal Court Artistic Director Vicky Featherstone.

Molly Davies's first play, A Miracle, was produced in 2009 at the Royal Court Theatre as part of the Young Writers Festival. Her other credits include Shooting Truth for National Theatre Connections and Orpheus & Eurydice for National Youth Theatre and Old Vic Tunnels. God Bless the Child, which was premiered at the Royal Court Upstairs, won Molly Davies the Harold Pinter Playwriting Award 2015.

A very funny, lively satire on imposed educational formulae * Guardian * [A] darkly funny and thought-provoking drama * Independent * There are plenty of amusingly, unnervingly plausible ideas in this smart satire on child-centred learning * The Times * [An] entertaining, satisfying satire on formulaic teaching and mindlessly positive thinking * Observer * In God Bless the Child at the Royal Court, Molly Davies created, through an atmosphere of ominous comedy and sharp characterisation of children and adults, a sort of Lord of the Flies for the modern education system in a play that also has broader relevance to other professions and institutions in which questionable new methods have been imposed from top-down. Whereas some dramatists are most comfortable with either words or images, Davies can vividly do both. * Evening Standard *