The schoolmaster lives by logic and expects things to go smoothly. He believes in science, authority, man's capacity for survival, and has faith that everything happens for the best. Unspecified events outside the classroom scares the children into running away. He talks on to an empty classroom.
First performance at the Questors Theatre, Ealing, June 1963
First professional production at the Theatre-in-the-Round, Scarborough, Summer 1963