UK Theatre Network

Theatre Royal Bath Productions presents the West Yorkshire Playhouse production of

The History Boys

By Alan Bennett

At Milton Keynes Theatre

This play is set in a grammar school in Sheffield in the 1980s where a group of boys are hoping to gain places at Oxbridge. The Headmaster, played by Thomas Wheatley, is anxious about the school’s rating in the league tables and is keen to improve its position.  He recruits Irwin, an Oxford graduate, as a temporary teacher in the hope that he will be able to raise the standard of education to make Oxbridge entry feasible.

The role of Irwin is taken by Ben Lambert, who is convincing as the recently qualified teacher. It is soon apparent that his teaching style is very different to that of English teacher Hector, played by Gerard Murphy, whose lessons appear to be very informal and at times could be considered chaotic. There is one hilarious scene where Hector is teaching a slot timetabled as “general studies” where they are speaking only in French and are acting out a scene set in a French brothel. One of the boys has removed his trousers. The headmaster arrives with Irwin during this and they continue to speak in French. Whilst this may have appeared to be a class out of control, their standard of French was very high and I would suggest it demonstrated improvisation skills.

Hector has his darker side; he likes to give some of the boys a lift on his motorbike where he will grope them if he gets the chance.  During lessons Hector will sometimes whack them over the head. The boys don’t seem to mind him hitting them; indeed some see it as a demonstration of affection. How times have changed, Hector would surely find himself at least suspended and probably facing charges in Court if he was teaching and behaving like that now. Despite his behaviour the audience seem to overlook it and find him endearing, although I didn’t particularly like him.

The only female role is that of Mrs Lintott played by Penelope Beaumont who has some amusing lines. James Byng took the role of Posner and gave an excellent rendition of Bewitched, Bothered and bewildered; he was accompanied on piano by Scripps played by Rob Delaney. Kyle Redmond-Jones gave a good performance as Dakin.

The classroom scenery appeared to have been drawn in pencil on graph paper.  A revolving stage was used to slowly move as the boys were sitting at the tables. I’m not sure if I liked this effect, there was something hypnotic about it. There were loud blasts of various music tracks from the 1980’s during the course of the play. Again I’m not sure if it worked for me.

There were a range of aspirations and teaching styles examined in this play, but I was particularly struck by a comment made by one of the boys towards the end when he said he had got an Oxbridge place but had dropped out, having realised that he had burnt himself out with his effort to get there. He had seen going there as an end in itself, but in fact it was just the start.

Whilst I found some parts of this play amusing, the audience seemed to find it funnier than I did.  There were some parts I found a little tedious and overall it was, perhaps a little too long. If you are a fan of Alan Bennett this play should not be missed.

The History Boys plays Milton Keynes Theatre from Monday 17^th May to Saturday 22^nd May 2010. Milton Keynes Theatre Box Office 0844 871 7652 (bkg fee).

The tour then continues playing Theatre Royal Norwich from Monday 24^th May to Saturday 29^th May 2010.

www.miltonkeynestheatre.com

Reviewed by Sue Marks at Milton Keynes Theatre on Monday 17^th May 2010.