Context of 'Gotcha' by Barrie Keeffe

The context of 'Gotcha' was to give the working class a voice they never had on stage before. Set in 1976, during a huge political change over; labour was coming into power. The play is written to highlight the flaws of the new comprehensive education.

'Gotcha' was not written to be a timeless message, the idea of children 'lost in the system' was hoped to be long gone thirty years later. The Kid in 'Gotcha' is an example of an anonymous child who was over looked through out his entire education, in a podcast which interviews Barrie Keeffe himself, he describes his education as: 'if you weren't academically elite or a sporting achiever you were invisible'. Furthermore after he see's a recent production of his own 'Gotcha' he reveals that he finds it 'deeply saddening that this play still has relevance in today's culture'. One thing which seems to continually frustrate the Kid is that not one of three teachers can even tell him his name yet they are quick to write him off e.g. 'You don't even know me do you, I've been here for five years, sat in front of you every single day and you never even noticed. Tell me now how you can write what you did about me when you can't even say my name.' This portrays the 'lost souls' in the comprehensive system that Barrie Keeffe was desperate to unearth. Other people taking part in the interview can relate to this statement by remembering a similar child that was forever being ignored even though the were 'quite smart' and caused 'no real trouble', they were treated like a non-entity.

I think Barrie Keeffe has chosen to express the ideas of the play in this context to provoke a reaction within the minds of the audience. The play is designed to be realistic and emotive, so by using the very accurate description of the political changes occurring in the country, the audience's attention was drawn to the faults and discrimination in the comprehensive education system.