Anger as GCSE students study play full of self-harm, suicide and 218 F-words

Furious parents were today up in arms after it emerged GCSE drama students were studying a play which features violence, self-harm and suicide - and includes the F-word 218 times.

Youngsters at Teddington School, west London, whose former pupils include actors Keira Knightley and Sean Pertwee, were given the script of gritty drama Mogadishu last year.

Last night furious mother Gerardine Stockford said: “It beggars belief. It is completely unsuitable for young teenagers.”

Mrs Stockford, 52, a former social worker, said her daughter Anna studied the play from last spring until Christmas.

She said: “I’m no prude but this play was absolutely saturated with swearing. I counted almost 400 expletives.

“On top of that the play deals with some very dark themes and includes racist, sexist and homophobic language. I think it is very irresponsible of the school to teach this kind of material to a class full of 14-year-olds.”

Mogadishu, written by former teacher Vivienne Franzmann, premiered at the Royal Exchange in Manchester in 2011 before transferring to the Lyric Theatre in Hammersmith, London.

In the highly charged plot, London secondary school teacher Amanda splits up a fight involving black pupil Jason who pushes her to the floor.

She refuses to report the matter because she feels sorry for Jason whose mother committed suicide. However, she faces losing her job after Jason accuses her of pushing and racially abusing him.

Chris McGovern, chairman of the Campaign for Real Education, said yesterday: “Mogadishu’s excessive use of foul language and its treatment of such themes as racism, bullying, violence, self-harm and suicide may prove profoundly disturbing to some youngsters.”