The History Boys – Oxford Playhouse

Writer: Alan Bennett

Director: Christopher Luscombe

Reviewer: Mary Tapper

The Public Reviews Rating:

Alan Bennett once said “I write plays about things I can’t resolve in my mind. I try to root things out” and, with its debate about the nature of education and relationships, this play certainly delivers!

The play is set in the 1980s and follows a group of boys staying on after A levels to take the Oxford and Cambridge entrance exam. Previous cohorts have failed to get places and a new approach to the exam is needed: and so we explore what it is to be “educated” and how one stands out from the crowd to gain entrance. Should all knowledge be for a purpose or is the study of arts, literature and music an end in itself, something that should be pursued to help you on the journey through life?

Bennett himself has confessed that he wrote the play as an absolution from the guilt he felt at gaining entrance to Oxbridge. He felt that he had tricked his way into the institutions by using what would now be called “exam technique” and, as with all great writing, the story and the words hold the ring of truth. Characters also agonise about their sexuality and with dry Yorkshire wit we are asked to look at boundaries and what is acceptable in relationships between teachers and pupils.

The production by Theatre Royal Bath is accomplished. The set, designed by Janet Bird, is simple with huge white backdrops, printed to look like graph paper with features pencilled in, as though a sketch remembered from school days. The lighting and blasts of 80s music combine to keep the play dramatic and fluid with the boys almost tumbling onto chairs and tables as sets change, emphasising the beautiful physical nature of youth.

Spotlights are used to pick out individuals and the director gets the pacing of the play just right: still, small moments of calm, punctuated by excitement and movement. There is a slow moving revolve for the main classroom so we can explore the room from all angles as it gently rotates, as if to examine the intellectual argument from all angles.

Gerald Murphy shows us a flawed and ultimately rather tragic Hector to great effect and is particularly moving in his scenes with Posner, played by James Byng, creating real tension on stage. Acting is excellent throughout but for me standouts are Kyle Redmond-Jones as Dakin and James Byng as Posner. I also enjoyed the performance of Penelope Beaumont as Mrs Lintott as she skilfully developed her character though the play, from a rather bland, invisible woman to a rounded passionate advocate for women’s rights at the end

Alan Bennett explores his themes in an accessible, down-to-earth way. It is always clear where his sympathies lie and he convinces us with irony in a beautiful and moving script of succinct observations. Go see.