The History Boys: A Play by Alan Bennett
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Book Reviews of The History Boys: A Play
Book Review: "A question has a front door and a back door. Go in the back, or better still, the side."
Summary: 5 Stars
Set in the 1980s in a boarding school in the north of England, this Tony Award-winner for Best Play of 2006 is a dramatic comedy involving eight young "sixth-formers" who are preparing for the history examinations necessary for entrance into Oxford or Cambridge. No one from their school has been accepted at either university in the past, and the headmaster is determined that this year will be different. To this end, he hires a young teacher, Irwin, to improve the students' "presentation" so that they will stand out from the crowd with the college examiners. Irwin's goal is to teach the students to think "outside the box"--not to be dull--when they answer questions.
This mission conflicts with the goals of the English and History teachers. Hector, the motor-cycle-riding English teacher, has taught the students reams of poetry, and they readily apply it to real-life situations. He has taught the French subjunctive (though it is not his subject) by conducting the class in French and having students pretend to be negotiating at a brothel. His classes are free-wheeling, often student-directed--taking the long view and valuing education for its own sake. The History teacher, Dorothy Lintott, has taught the facts: "They know their stuff. Plainly stated and properly organized facts need no presentation, surely," she remarks to the headmaster.
As the three teachers and the headmaster perform their duties, the eight students react as teenagers everywhere react, albeit a bit more politely. They banter and feed off each other's joking remarks, tease their teachers, get bopped on the head by Hector, challenge him to identify scenes from films (which they act out), and explore their favorite subject, sex. They are bright, charming, and disingenuous, and their conversations with each other and the faculty are spirited and quick-paced, keeping the audience constantly engaged and often laughing uproariously.
Bennett's use of humor has become more sophisticated in the years since Beyond the Fringe, and he balances it here with thoughtful observations about education and its value, while he also explores the subject of war. He provides additional commentary on his themes by including brief scenes which take place much later than the primary action. The play opens fifteen years after the main action, then flashes back to school days, before flashing forward five years, later in the play, as students reveal what has happened after college, thereby broadening the scope. Laugh-out-loud funny, thoughtful, and poignant in its moments of recognition, The History Boys is theatre at its best. n Mary Whipple
Book Review: Best play of the century...IMHO
Summary: 5 Stars
I spent a summer in London on foreign exhange studying theatre and literature. While there I saw this play at the National Theatre. It blew my mind and touched my soul. Although I will admit my own bias as a future English teacher - I believe this play did an amazing job bringing to light questions regarding what it means to be an "educator" in a way that connects with us all. Do we teach kids in such a way that they acheive maximum acedimic success, or do we place the emphasis on teaching them literature in a manner that gives them the keys to understanding the world for themselves? To we teach them to understand with their minds or with their hearts?
There is also a darker current in which child molestation and sexual power are examined frankly and unabashedly with no judgements or prior assumptions. Bennett does an excellent job of keeping out of the way and allowing his characters to defend themselves without blurring the lines of morality and ethics. The dialogue is sparklingly witty and smart and although there are many characters they each have a distinct spirit. I couldn't help but fall in love with nearly every character in this play.
I cannot recommend this play any more highly. Buy it, rent it, borrow it, steal it - whatever you do - READ IT.
Book Review: I was Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered
Summary: 5 Stars
The Stern Librarian saw this play on Broadway the same night as Iman--how beauty-packed the audience was that night. Those poor History Boys to have to perform to those dual points of radiance! I rarely read plays after seeing them performed, but I bought this volume on the way out of the theater. First, to read Alan Bennett's introductory essay, which is a characteristically funny and brave bit of autobiography. He reveals, among other things, the extent to which the actors created their own roles, the story of his own scholarship examinations, and his own brush with the type of historical detachment and journalistic flourish practiced by Irwin. The second reason I bought the play was to spend more time with that outsize, brilliant Hector. So many of his allusions went over my head during the play that I longed to savor them: snatches of poetry from Hardy, Housman, Whitman, Shakespeare; campy bits from Now, Voyager and Brief Encounter; dancehall songs. Hector's teaching that all knowledge is precious unless it is of any use will leave you wanting to be his lifelong pupil, if not a passenger on his motorcycle. The Stern Librarian (I'm not afraid of Virginia Wolfe).Book Review: The History Boys
Summary: 5 Stars
I saw The History Boys on Broadway. I could tell the play was fabulous, very funny, with exceptional actors. People were laughling and the little I heard was entertaining. I was sitting in the last row on the far right of the mezzanine, Now I have ringing in the ears, so my hearing is not the best. So afterwards I thought I would buy the play and chuckle about it to myself. Then, according to the Playbill, I'd go to the movie that's already been filmed with the original cast.
But first I I bought and sent the play to the woman who went to the play with me. She couldn't hear it either. I get it when she's finished with it. But I do know enough to recommend the play itself, the script and I hope
the movie. Do something, at least one of the three, don't miss it.
Book Review: Difference between screenplay and play.
Summary: 5 Stars
Someone asked this, and I myself found it confusing so I thought I'd clarify (I own both): The screenplay is different from the play. It has the usual add ons like production stills, author/director commentory but the script is also slightly different. A few characters like the art teacher and the PE teacher Wilkes have been added in, and some parts only mentioned in the play are developed into scenes here. A lot of the play has also been cut out from the screenplay, and Scripps is not as central a figure as in the play. Bear in mind though that the movie was edited so the screenplay is slightly different from the film, with much of Scripps' watered down narration cut further (apparently having Jamie Parker speak to the camera didn't work out) or his lines given to Dakin instead.