Depending on which side of the fence you sit on, there are two ways one can view the Ontario Government’s overhaul of education in this province: Promising or cataclysmic.

If you share the latter perspective then you’re going to squirt over Ted John’s one-man comedy The Great School Crisis on now at Theatre Passe Muraille.

Despite a haunting resemblance to a plumper Jean Charest, it’s not likely the writer/performer has ever voted Tory with the cynical content that he juggles between two acts.

The Great School Crisis starts off with a sluggish stern tone as the First Superitendent of Schools resigns after disclosing his dream of a government funded education system. It’s not certain why this scene had to be here but every play needs to start somewhere.

The following sketch finds a funny bone with a workfare candidate sharing a few ideas as to how to reduce the cost of education. Transportation, not classroom materials, is the lamb that is sent to the sacrificial altar.

A frantic Helen Edgar, head of the Parent Committee preventing a looming school closure, provides one of the play’s more enjoyable monologues. Perplexed by the “space formula” she can’t believe her ears when the reasoning behind numbers is explained to her. “The funding formula is about money, it’s not suppose to make sense,” she tells the audience.

Ted John’s monologues are tame in comparison to what kind of fun you can have with some of the decisions that have come from Queen’s Park this past decade. The jokes are by no means killer material but they do work well with a mature audience looking for refuge from the risqué.

The performer is sincere in his portrayal of all that seems wrong with our education system. Should you not share his perspective of the issues, you could be in for a long night.

However, if anyone’s going to win over support, Ted John’s respectful political fun poking is just the comical revolution to rally the troops.