The History Boys is possibly Alan Bennett's most brilliant play. The original production by the Royal National Theatre was hugely successful and toured internationally and across Britain, calling in at the Theatre Royal in 2006 around the same time that a somewhat inferior film version was released. The play has been revived in this new production from the West Yorkshire Playhouse.
The play is set in a Sheffield grammar school in the eighties, when targets and measurable outcomes were beginning to dominate education policy. Eight history pupils have excelled in their A-Levels and are now preparing to take the Oxbridge entrance exams. So far they have been taught by the methodical Mrs Lintott, who has carefully stuffed them with facts, and by the eccentric and witty Mr Hector, who has encouraged and indulged the boys. Whilst Hector thinks they may be better off going to a redbrick university, the targets-obsessed headmaster is determined that the school should send pupils to Oxbridge and so he appoints a young new teacher, Irwin, to coach them for the entrance exam.
Irwin's approach is to encourage the boys to find alternative points of view, no matter how ludicrous or indefensible, in order to catch the attention of the examiners. Not even the evil of the Holocaust is safe from being questioned. On the other hand, under the guise of 'General Studies' Hector teaches them classical history, great poetry (which they recite by heart, and from the heart) and the songs of Edith Piaf. He wishes to fill their juvenile minds and hearts with emotional knowledge in the belief that one day they will understand and have a use for it. He also wants to grope them as he gives them lifts on his motorbike - an aspect of his character that the boys accept with resignation. Incredibly, though we live in a time of hysteria about the risks of paedophiles, Bennett's skill as a playwright is such that he still manages to make Hector a sympathetic character.
The boys are all bright students who, whilst preparing for these important exams, have to deal with their own questions of religion, philosophy and their emerging sexualities. Faced with the differing approaches of their educators, they have to make a choice between them and through their eyes the play debates the meaning and purpose of education. Is it a way to climb the greasy pole of success or a preparation for the love affairs and inevitable disappointments that await us in later life? Whilst Bennett himself seems to side with Hector's poetic nature, the play is not a simple diatribe but a finely nuanced examination of the issues.
Although the subject matter sounds dry, there are belly laughs from start to finish, not least when the headmaster walks in as Hector has the boys enacting a scene in a brothel (to develop their French language skills, of course). My main criticism of the play is that the characters and antics of the boys are very unrealistic - there has never been a group of teenage boys as tolerant, perceptive, wise or ready to burst into choreographed song routines as this lot, nor will there ever be. However, each character is unstereotyped, being well drawn and interesting.
This play undoutedly deserved to be revived, but how does this production compare to the Royal National Theatre's? Although this cast seem weaker than in the original, the direction is much better. In the RNT production, the second half seemed to wander from the point and dragged a little, whilst here it is much more focused. This production's simple set of classroom walls drawn in a black-and-white comic style is very effective and allows us to concentrate on the rich dialogue and complex characters. If you saw the play last time, I'm sure you enjoyed it and this production is well worth another look. If you didn't see it before, don't miss it again.
The History Boys plays at the Theatre Royal until Saturday June 26th 2010.
Read Dom Henry's review of the Royal National Theatre's touring production from 2006.
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