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The boys are back in class. Pictures: Marc Brenner The History Boys Malvern Theatres **** This excellent production of Alan Bennett’s famous play The History Boys is a lively and witty exploration of a number of serious themes in a hugely entertaining and at times shocking way. It is a fitting way to mark the 20th anniversary of his best known title. The fictional Cutler’s Grammar School in Sheffield, a presumably single-sex boys’ school in the 1980s, is celebrating its best ‘A’ Level results in their history. This unprecedented success means the boys will stay on for an extra term to take the scholarship entrance to the highest universities in the land, Oxford and Cambridge. This lively and talented class of hoydenish lads, with their marked obsession with sex and exploring the possibilities of a liberated and licentious age, are guided in their studies by three teachers whose approaches are quite contrasted. Mrs Lintott (Gillian Bevan) has a more traditional approach. Let them learn the facts of history in particular. Hector (Simon Rouse) has a more creative, artistic attitude to learning and scholarship – results and facts matter less to him. Irwin (Bill Milner), fresh from university and close in age to the lads, wants them to find new angles and interpretations on their subject matter to help them stand out from the crowd. This production is brilliantly cast (Matilda James CDG) and directed (Sean Linnen). The ingenious set with brisk scene changes, the tuneful singing, the lively dance routines that embellish the action, all make a significant and energetic impact on the dramatic scenes which are at various times hilarious, shocking and serious. Serious themes around, education, history, art, sexuality and permissiveness, abuse and gender are all raised in scenes that are invariably witty, often cynical and punctuated by very coarse language. What is history: ‘just one f…..thing after another!’ and ‘centuries of masculine ineptitude and mismanagement of things!’ There are fine individual performances by the cast: Simon Rouse (Hector) develops his character sensitively from the cynical teacher approaching retirement to a pitiable and lost soul who has pushed the boundaries too far, even for such a permissive age. Yazdan Qafouri’s (Scripps) piano playing, Lewis Cornay’s(Posner) singing, confused identity and youth, and Archie Christoph-Allen’s (Dakin) sexual ambitions and precocity stand out but are well complemented by the humour provided by Ned Costello (Rudge) and Teddy Hinde (Timms) particularly. There are no weak links. The sense of existential lostness, emotional angst, the cynical commentary on the world are alleviated by the humour, the very clever dialogue and lively youthfulness of the boys, despite the dated view of safeguarding issues. Bennett’s supreme talent is brought to life very skilfully in this celebratory production. Tim Crow 15-10-24 |
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