Education, Education, Education | Five minutes with The Wardrobe Ensemble

Following its sell-out run in 2017, former Made in Bristol company The Wardrobe Ensemble return to Bristol Old Vic with their critically-acclaimed show Education, Education, Education. 

Tell us about your connection with Bristol Old Vic. 
All of us have a very close, long-standing connection with the Bristol Old Vic Young Company, some of us going back as far as primary school. Bristol Old Vic is where many of us spent the majority of our teenage years, and it is where the basis of our shared theatremaking language was allowed to develop. When the main house was being renovated we essentially had free reign over the building for two years (or at least we felt like we did!). 

How did you form The Wardrobe Ensemble?
We were the the pilot year of Bristol Old Vic’s Made In Bristol programme, which is now in its eighth year and has spawned some great companies such as Propolis and INKBLOC ensemble (keep an eye out for INKBLOC’s Lego Beach, it’s touring at the moment).

During our Made In Bristol year we made RIOT, a satire about a riot that happened in an IKEA store in North London in 2005. The entire show was flatpack and was lit with IKEA lamps. That year we took it to the Edinburgh Fringe and much to our surprise the show did very well! So we kept going and seven years later, here we are.

You’re returning to Bristol Old Vic with Education, Education, Education, how was it performing on the main stage last year?
Really special. Quite emotional. That was a huge week for us. As well as returning to what feels like our spiritual home, the Education, Education, Education play-texts were published the same week and Bristol Old Vic unveiled a blue plaque for us on the wall of the room we used to rehearse in (the site of the old wardrobe, our namesake).

Much to our amazement, we sold out every show and the audiences were incredible. Many of us performed on that stage during our Young Company days, so it really felt like things had come full circle.

How did performing to the audiences in Bristol compare to performing to those at Edinburgh Fringe?
Bristol audiences were just as raucous, but much bigger! We always look forward to performing in Bristol, audiences know how to have a good time.

How would you sum up Education, Education, Education?
A silly, slick, energetic and nostalgic look at our education system, the optimism of 1997, Britishness, community and care. With a banging 90s playlist.

Did you enjoy school? Do you have a main highlight or memory?
We all had our high points and low points, but the common feeling we identified whilst making the show was this sense of bittersweet nostalgia for our schooldays. The setting of Education, Education, Education, the fictional Wordsworth Comprehensive School, is a sort of mish-mash of our collective secondary school experiences. Some of us had better teaching than others, but what we found is that everyone remembers it as quite a raw and intense time - those are the years that form you as a person. 

The Wardrobe Ensemble return to Bristol Old Vic from 10 – 14 Mar with Education, Education, Education. Book tickets here.