Context of Gotcha

The play Gotcha by Barrie Keeffe was written in 1977 and set in a secondary school in 1976.  Queen Elizabeth II was on the throne and James Callaghan was in charge of the labour government.

In 1972 the school leaving age was raised from 15 to 16. In 1965  Anthony Crosland, the education minister for the labour party, introduced the comprehensive school system which would have been fully in place by 1976. Comprehensive schools meant that students do not have to pass any entrance exams, which meant that the schools were more likely to have lower ability students in.

The play is seen as the theatre equivalent of a punk record where it is short but there is lots going on in that time. One of the most famous punk bands of that time was the Sex Pistols. Lots of people listened to punk because it was rebellious and the character of the kid is portrayed as being a bit of a rebel, by threatening to blow up the cupboard they are all in.

Other famous playwrights at the time of Gotcha were people such as David Mamet, who in 1976 wrote, The Duck Variations, Sexual Perversity in Chicago, and American Buffalo.