Product Description

An unruly bunch of bright, funny sixth-form boys in pursuit of sex, sport and a place at university. A maverick English teacher at odds with the young and shrewd supply teacher. A headmaster obsessed with results; a history teacher who thinks he's a fool. In Alan Bennett's new play, staff room rivalry and the anarchy of adolescence provoke insistent questions about history and how you teach it; about education and its purpose.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1985 in Books
• Published on: 2004-06-17
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 144 pages

Synopsis
An unruly bunch of bright, funny sixth-form boys in pursuit of sex, sport and a place at university. A maverick English teacher at odds with the young and shrewd supply teacher. A headmaster obsessed with results; a history teacher who thinks he's a fool. In Alan Bennett's new play, staff room rivalry and the anarchy of adolescence provoke insistent questions about history and how you teach it; about education and its purpose.

From the Inside Flap
An unruly bunch of bright, funny sixth-form boys in pursuit of
sex, sport and a place at university. A maverick English teacher at odds
with the young and shrewd supply teacher; a headmaster obsessed with
results; a History teacher who thinks he's a fool. Staffroom rivalry and
the anarchy of adolescence provoke insistent questions about History and
how to teach it; about education and its purpose.

'The History Boys', the screenplay, contains Alan Bennett's diary of the
filming, the shooting script and an Introduction by director Nicholas
Hytner, as well as an extensive plate section showing stills from the film
and behind the scenes.

Customer Reviews

A multi-layered look at adolescence
The play blends comedy with tragedy and has many layers and themes. Whilst the story is ostensibly about education and, in particular, the teaching of talented pupils on the cusp of adulthood it is also a subtle study of the human and personal relationships between teacher and pupil, pupil and pupil and teacher and teacher. Hector, the confident but eccentric, eclectic and iconoclastic history teacher is contrasted with Irwin, a generation younger than him, who is clever, confused and insecure. The boys have warmed to Hector's maverick style and methods which includes role playing and a very broad cultural range - from Gracie Fields to Housman. They tolerate Hector's fondness for fondling their genitalia when on his motor bike with equanimity clearly seeing it as a harmless foible rather than a pederastic threat.

The boys themselves are sharply contrasted and skilfully characterised. Dakin, is handsome and self-confident attracting not only the lovestruck and guilt-ridden Posner but also the Headmaster's secretary the "fair Fiona" and eventually Irwin as well. Rudge is the sporting hearty who despite his lack of overt academic competence has sufficient other qualities and connections to get him into Oxford. The play is about the "anarchy of adolescence" and whilst the fact of Hector's homosexuality runs through the story and is ultimately Hector's downfall "The History Boys" is not primarily about sex. The sexual confidence and promiscuity of Dakin and the sexual confusions of Hector, Irwin and Posner are neatly contrasted however and this theme may well be autobiographical.

The idea that culture is not sharply divided into highbrow and lowbrow is one of Hector's beliefs and he is as comfortable in the genre of Hollywood as he is in the classics. This seems to be a plea for tolerance and understanding and for the need to trawl widely in order to grow and to learn - especially early in life. The belief that in education anything goes so long as it helps the pupil's development contrasts sharply with the headmaster's wish to stick to the curriculum and to get results above all. For Hector entry to Oxbridge will (or should) come from a rounded education as much as from curriculum adherence. For Irwin the need is to play the game so that in the Oxbridge entrance exams and interviews taking the conventional line is to be avoided in favour of articulating a contrary position in order to be noticed.

The play is set in the 1980s - a time of social and political change and in a sense The History Boys is a refection of that change. The likes of Hector would never be accepted again and results driven headmasters became the norm. Bennett suggests that this is a regrettable consequence of the Thatcherite and post-Thatcherite focus in education on curriculum, standards and political-correctness.

Most over-rated play ever
I hated this play. Stereotypes as characters, tired and cliched, ignorant about education. The worst play I have ever seen in a long life of theatre going. I can't understand why people rave about this: it's lazy, dated, ill-informed writing.

Tarnished wit
Having just seen the National Theatre production of The History Boys, performed in Bennett's Leeds for the first time, I was disappointed. There are good one-liners and the potential for wit, irony and social criticism is well-crafted, but the setting is confusing. This is a late 1950s or early 1960s state grammar school scholarship class in the days of seventh-term entry to Oxbridge made to carry educational criticisms for the 1990s in language that would have been totally out of place fifty years ago. The irony is too heavy and the wit and delight in language for which Bennett is noted is lost beneath the dramatically unnecessary and misplaced splatter of four-letter words.