EIGHT years after quitting as a science teacher in a secondary school, Rebecca (Josephine Arden) meets up with her former head of department Jamilah (Alma Eno) to talk through some disturbing memories in Joe Marsh’s play This Glass Will Shatter.

Rebecca is still troubled by the impact that one of her students Amina (Naima Swaleh) had on her life and the events that led to her early retirement. Rebecca thinks that Amina owes her an apology. Jamilah wants Rebecca to leave Amina alone.

During their reunion, Rebecca makes clear that she doesn’t miss her job in the east London school where Jamilah is now headmistress.

Although well-meaning and hard-working, the ex-teacher’s privileged background and unwillingness to understand her pupils’ environment created an abyss increasingly difficult to bridge.

This situation is exacerbated by an increasing obsession of Rebecca with Amina’s questions about “Islamic State” and what she perceives as “radicalisation.”

Trust is lost, prejudices grow and the former colleagues have very different perspectives on Amina.

Rebecca can only see a problematic student making her life gratuitously difficult while the head of department, from a Somali background like Amina, sees a troubled girl who has the system set against her.

As a young black Muslim woman, Amina is at the receiving end of both stop and search and “challenge and monitor” policing measures. For Rebecca and the Establishment she represents, she is either a potential gangster or a terrorist.

The strength of the play lies in Marsh’s script, which bravely defies the official narrative of youth radicalisation by examining its class and socioeconomic roots.

It calls out the failure of the racist and Islamophobic Prevent strategy in education, which stigmatises and alienates young Muslims, leaving them with little hope of full academic and personal development.  

The production is beautifully staged, with an original use of sound and lighting effects, harmoniously combined with performances eloquently reflecting the characters’ pain and isolation.

And Althea Theatre’s decision to caption the performance is an inspirational example for other companies, regardless of their size, to make theatre accessible to all.  

Runs until February 8, box office: omnibus-clapham.org.