''The History Boys'' is a play by British playwright
Alan Bennett
Alan Bennett (born 9 May 1934) is an English actor, author, playwright and screenwriter. Over his distinguished entertainment career he has received numerous awards and honours including two BAFTA Awards, four Laurence Olivier Awards, and tw ...
. The play premiered at the
Royal National Theatre
The Royal National Theatre in London, commonly known as the National Theatre (NT), is one of the United Kingdom's three most prominent publicly funded performing arts venues, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal Opera House. I ...
in London on 18 May 2004. Its Broadway debut was on 23 April 2006 at the
Broadhurst Theatre
The Broadhurst Theatre is a Broadway theatre, Broadway theater at 235 West 44th Street (Manhattan), 44th Street in the Theater District, Manhattan, Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Opened in 1917, the theater was designed ...
where 185 performances were staged before it closed on 1 October 2006.
The play won
multiple awards, including the 2005
Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Play
The Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Play is an annual award presented by the Society of London Theatre in recognition of achievements in commercial London theatre. The awards were established as the Society of West End Theatre Awards in 1976 ...
and the 2006
Tony Award for Best Play
The Tony Award for Best Play (formally, the Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre) is an annual award given to the best new (non- musical) play on Broadway, as determined by Tony Award voters. There was no award in the Tonys' first year ...
.
Plot
The play opens in Cutlers' Grammar School,
Sheffield
Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...
, a fictional boys'
grammar school
A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented secondary school ...
in the
north of England
Northern England, also known as the North of England, the North Country, or simply the North, is the northern area of England. It broadly corresponds to the former borders of Angle Northumbria, the Anglo-Scandinavian Kingdom of Jorvik, and the ...
. Set in the mid-late 1980s, the play follows a group of history pupils preparing for the
Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
and
Cambridge
Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...
entrance examinations under the guidance of three teachers (Hector, Irwin, and Lintott) with contrasting styles.
Hector, an eccentric teacher, delights in knowledge for its own sake but his ambitious headmaster wants the school to move up the academic league table and hires Irwin, a
supply teacher, to introduce a rather more cynical and ruthless style of teaching. Hector is discovered sexually fondling a boy and later Irwin's latent homosexual inclinations emerge.
The character of Hector was based on the schoolmaster and author
Frank McEachran (1900–1975).
Characters
![The History Boys at The Doon School](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/47/The_History_Boys_at_The_Doon_School.jpg)
* Headmaster (Felix Armstrong) – Headmaster
* Douglas Hector – English and General Studies teacher
* Irwin – History teacher; brought in as a special coach
* Mrs Dorothy Lintott – History teacher
* Akthar – Pupil; of Asian ancestry, Muslim
* Crowther – Pupil; acts as a hobby
* Dakin – Pupil; handsome, object of Posner's and Irwin's affection
* Lockwood – Pupil; strong opinions
* David Posner – Pupil; youngest, gay and Jewish
* Rudge – Pupil; better known for athletic skills than for intelligence
* Scripps – Pupil; Anglican, plays piano
* Timms – Pupil; joker, overweight
* Director on Irwin's television programme (a small role)
Irwin is said to be modelled after
.
The play includes several non-speaking roles:
* Make-Up Woman, Production team – on Irwin's television show
* Three or four unidentified MPs – spoken to by Irwin in opening scene
* Other male pupils
* Fiona – Headmaster's secretary; object of Dakin's affection. Does not appear on stage in the published text, but was seen in filmed projections featuring
Rio
Rio or Río is the Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, and Maltese word for "river". When spoken on its own, the word often means Rio de Janeiro, a major city in Brazil.
Rio or Río may also refer to:
Geography Brazil
* Rio de Janeiro
* Rio do Sul, a ...
by Duran Duran during the original production.
Productions
Royal National Theatre
The play opened at the
Lyttelton Theatre
The Royal National Theatre in London, commonly known as the National Theatre (NT), is one of the United Kingdom's three most prominent publicly funded performing arts venues, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal Opera House. In ...
(part of the National Theatre) in London on 18 May 2004, directed by
Nicholas Hytner
Sir Nicholas Robert Hytner (; born 7 May 1956) is an English theatre director, film director, and film producer. He was previously the Artistic Director of London's National Theatre. His major successes as director include ''Miss Saigon'', ''Th ...
. It played to sell-out audiences and its limited run was frequently extended.
Richard Griffiths
Richard Thomas Griffiths (31 July 1947 – 28 March 2013) was an English actor of film, television, and stage. For his performance in the stage play ''The History Boys'', Griffiths won a Tony Award, a Laurence Olivier Award, the Drama Desk Aw ...
,
James Corden,
Dominic Cooper
Dominic Edward Cooper (born 2 June 1978) is an English actor known for his portrayal of comic book characters Jesse Custer on the AMC show ''Preacher'' (2016–2019) and young Howard Stark in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with appearances ...
,
Russell Tovey
Russell George Tovey (born 14 November 1981) is an English actor. He is best known for playing the role of werewolf George Sands in the BBC's supernatural comedy-drama '' Being Human'', Rudge in both the stage and film versions of ''The Histo ...
,
Sacha Dhawan
Sacha Dhawan (; born 1 May 1984) is a British actor from Greater Manchester. He is best known for playing Akthar in the play ''The History Boys'' (2004–2006) and its film adaptation (2006), Paul Jatri in the BBC One comedy drama series ''Last ...
,
Samuel Barnett,
Jamie Parker
Jamie Parker (born 14 August 1979) is an English actor and singer. He is best known for his role as Harry Potter in the original cast for the West End play ''Harry Potter and the Cursed Child'', for which he received a Laurence Olivier Award f ...
and
Andrew Knott
Andrew Knott (born 22 November 1979) is a British actor. He played Dirtbox in ''Gavin & Stacey'', and Dickon Sowerby in the 1993 film ''The Secret Garden''.
Life and career
Knott was born in Salford. His first acting was done in British televis ...
were among the original cast. On 24 November 2005, the same production was revived once again at the
Lyttelton Theatre
The Royal National Theatre in London, commonly known as the National Theatre (NT), is one of the United Kingdom's three most prominent publicly funded performing arts venues, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal Opera House. In ...
where it played another successful run.
Matt Smith
Matthew Robert Smith (born 28 October 1982) is an English actor. He is best known for his roles as the Eleventh Doctor, eleventh incarnation of The Doctor (Doctor Who), the Doctor in the BBC series ''Doctor Who'' (2010–2013), Daemon Targarye ...
took on the role of Lockwood in the November 2005 revision of the cast. The original cast reunited in the final week in February 2006.
International tour
Following closing in London, the National Theatre production toured to
Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...
in February 2006 and featured in the 2006
New Zealand International Arts Festival held in
Wellington
Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...
(February 2006) before playing at the Sydney Theatre in
Sydney
Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...
, Australia from 4 March to 8 April 2006. At each venue, the play was presented to sell-out audiences with the original London cast, including
Richard Griffiths
Richard Thomas Griffiths (31 July 1947 – 28 March 2013) was an English actor of film, television, and stage. For his performance in the stage play ''The History Boys'', Griffiths won a Tony Award, a Laurence Olivier Award, the Drama Desk Aw ...
; however,
Frances de la Tour and
Clive Merrison
Clive Merrison (born 15 September 1945) is a British actor of film, television, stage and radio. He trained at Rose Bruford College. He is best known for his long running BBC Radio portrayal of Sherlock Holmes, having played the part in all 64 ...
were replaced by
Maggie Steed
Maggie is a common short form of the name Magdalena, Magnolia, Margaret.
Maggie may refer to:
People
Women
* Maggie Adamson, Scottish musician
* Maggie Aderin-Pocock (born 1968), British scientist
* Maggie Alderson (born 1959), Aust ...
and
Malcolm Sinclair until the Broadway season.
Broadway
The American premiere of the play took place on 23 April 2006 when the same National production opened on
Broadway
Broadway may refer to:
Theatre
* Broadway Theatre (disambiguation)
* Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
** Broadway (Manhattan), the street
**Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...
at the
Broadhurst Theatre
The Broadhurst Theatre is a Broadway theatre, Broadway theater at 235 West 44th Street (Manhattan), 44th Street in the Theater District, Manhattan, Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Opened in 1917, the theater was designed ...
. Originally scheduled to run through 2 September 2006, the run was extended through to 8 October 2006 following huge public demand after the show won the Tony, New York Critics Circle and other American theatrical awards.
West End
Following its Broadway triumph and second UK tour, the play opened at London's
Wyndham's Theatre
Wyndham's Theatre is a West End theatre, one of two opened by actor/manager Charles Wyndham (the other is the Criterion Theatre). Located on Charing Cross Road in the City of Westminster, it was designed c.1898 by W. G. R. Sprague, the archit ...
on 2 January 2007, following previews from 20 December 2006. The production closed on 14 April 2007. A further West End run of the play opened once again at Wyndham's Theatre on 20 December 2007 running through 26 April 2008.
Tours in the UK and Ireland
The first national tour of the production opened in 2005, continuing to play nine regional venues. A second Britain wide tour began on 31 August 2006 at the
Birmingham Repertory Theatre
Birmingham Repertory Theatre, commonly called Birmingham Rep or just The Rep, is a producing theatre based on Centenary Square in Birmingham, England. Founded by Barry Jackson, it is the longest-established of Britain's building-based theatre c ...
, touring to eight further venues. The third tour launched on 6 September 2007 at the
Theatre Royal, Plymouth
Theatre Royal, Plymouth, is a theatre venue in Plymouth, Devon. It consists of a 1,300-seat main auditorium, The Lyric, which regularly hosts large-scale musicals, opera and ballet; a 200-seat studio, The Drum; and a 50-seat studio, The Lab. ...
, before continuing to
Truro
Truro (; kw, Truru) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Cornwall, England. It is Cornwall's county town, sole city and centre for administration, leisure and retail trading. Its ...
,
Cheltenham
Cheltenham (), also known as Cheltenham Spa, is a spa town and borough on the edge of the Cotswolds in the county of Gloucestershire, England. Cheltenham became known as a health and holiday spa town resort, following the discovery of mineral s ...
,
Bath,
Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...
,
Blackpool
Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...
,
Leeds
Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...
,
Cambridge
Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...
and
Eastbourne
Eastbourne () is a town and seaside resort in East Sussex, on the south coast of England, east of Brighton and south of London. Eastbourne is immediately east of Beachy Head, the highest chalk sea cliff in Great Britain and part of the la ...
, culminating in
Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to:
*Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England
*Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England
*Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...
on 10 November 2007.
Royal National Theatre casts
A majority of the original cast reunited on 2 November 2013 for the National Theatre 50th Anniversary special and performed the French lesson scene, with Philip Correia taking over for Russell Tovey, Marc Elliott performing as Akthar, original Akthar actor Sacha Dhawan as Posner (as Samuel Barnett was performing in ''
Richard III
Richard III (2 October 145222 August 1485) was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 26 June 1483 until his death in 1485. He was the last king of the House of York and the last of the Plantagenet dynasty. His defeat and death at the Battl ...
/
Twelfth Night
''Twelfth Night'', or ''What You Will'' is a romantic comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written around 1601–1602 as a Twelfth Night's entertainment for the close of the Christmas season. The play centres on the twins Vio ...
'' on Broadway at the time) and playwright Alan Bennett taking over as Hector from Richard Griffiths, who had died in March 2013.
West Yorkshire Playhouse / Theatre Royal Bath tour
A fourth national tour co-produced by the West Yorkshire Playhouse and Theatre Royal Bath commenced in early 2010. This was a new production not produced by the National Theatre and directed by Christopher Luscombe. The cast were as follows:
* Headmaster: Thomas Wheatley
* Hector: Gerard Murphy
* Irwin: Ben Lambert
* Mrs. Lintott: Penny Beaumont
* Akthar: Beruce Khan
* Crowther: Tom Reed
* Dakin: Kyle Redmond-Jones
* Lockwood: George Banks
* Posner:
James Byng
James Byng (born 1985) is an English actor and vocalist. Acting since the age of ten, James made his West End debut in the title role of '' Oliver!'' at the London Palladium. He played the same role in the national tour of ''Oliver!'' and ...
* Rudge: Peter McGovern
* Scripps: Rob Delaney
* Timms: Christopher Keegan
After a successful run the West Yorkshire Playhouse/Bath Theatre Royal production was revived for 2011 with the following cast:
* Headmaster: Thomas Wheatley
* Hector: Philip Franks
* Irwin: Ben Lambert
* Mrs. Lintott: Penny Beaumont
* Akthar: Beruce Khan
* Crowther: Michael Lyle
* Dakin: George Banks
* Lockwood: Ryan Saunders
* Posner: Rob Delaney
* Rudge: Peter McGovern
* Scripps: Harry Waller
* Timms: Christopher Keegan
Other productions
![The History Boys, OVO, St Albans, Nov 2013](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d5/The_History_Boys%2C_OVO%2C_St_Albans%2C_Nov_2013.jpg)
*The play had its southwest USA premiere at Uptown Players, in Dallas, from 3 April to 3 May 2009.
*The first non-professional UK production was staged by Daisy and Rose Theatre Productions at
Ermysted's Grammar School
Ermysted's Grammar School is an 11-18 boys voluntary aided grammar school in Skipton, North Yorkshire, England. It was founded by Peter Toller in the 15th century and is the seventh oldest state school in Britain. The first official record of t ...
in
Skipton
Skipton (also known as Skipton-in-Craven) is a market town and civil parish in the Craven district of North Yorkshire, England. Historically in the East Division of Staincliffe Wapentake in the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is on the River Air ...
,
North Yorkshire
North Yorkshire is the largest ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county (lieutenancy area) in England, covering an area of . Around 40% of the county is covered by National parks of the United Kingdom, national parks, including most of ...
, on 28–30 August 2008.
* The play had its amateur debut in Melbourne, Australia, performed at the Cromwell Road Theatre from 18–25 July 2009 and directed by
Bryce Ives . The first amateur production of the play (text released by
Samuel French, Inc.) was performed at the St Helens Theatre Royal, on 19–22 August 2009.
*The play made its Chicago premiere on 25 April 2009, at
TimeLine Theatre
A timeline is a display of a list of events in chronological order. It is typically a graphic design showing a long bar labelled with dates paralleling it, and usually contemporaneous events.
Timelines can use any suitable scale representin ...
.
*The Netherlands premiere was presented on 1 October 2009 by The Queen's English Theatre Company at the CREA Theater, Amsterdam – featuring an English mother-tongue cast, starring Brian André as Hector and directed by Mark Winstanley. The same production formed the play's premiere at the
Edinburgh International Festival
The Edinburgh International Festival is an annual arts festival in Edinburgh, Scotland, spread over the final three weeks in August. Notable figures from the international world of music (especially classical music) and the performing arts are i ...
in August 2010.
*An Italian adaptation debuted on 19 September 2010 at Teatro ElfoPuccini in Milan, directed by Elio de Capitani and Ferdinando Bruni. It won the Premio UBU 2011 as best show.
*A Catalan adaptation debuted on 24 September 2008 at Teatre Goya in Barcelona. Director: Josep Maria Pou.
* The Sydney debut was performed at the
Sydney Opera House
The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue performing arts centre in Sydney. Located on the foreshore of Sydney Harbour, it is widely regarded as one of the world's most famous and distinctive buildings and a masterpiece of 20th-century architec ...
by the Peach Theatre Company from 8 February to 2 March 2013, starring
John Wood as Hector,
Heather Mitchell
Heather Lee Mitchell (born 1958) is an Australian actress, appearing in Australian productions of stage, television and film. She is a graduate of NIDA (National Institute of Dramatic Art). She is best known for her leading role in the 1990s t ...
as Mrs Linnott,
Paul Goddard as Head Master, James Mackay as Irwin, Dakin:
Lindsay Farris
Lindsay Farris is an Australian / Maori actor, writer, producer, musician, voice over artist and entrepreneur who has been labelled as one of the "young guardians of theatre".
Career Stage Work
Farris has an extensive background in Australi ...
, Scripps: Aaron Tsindos. Crowther: Simon Brook McLachlan. Lockwood: Caleb Alloway. Arthur: James Elliott. Posner:Matthew Backer. Rudge: Gary Brun. Timms: Matt Hardie and is directed by Jesse Peach.
Film adaptation
In October 2006 a film adaptation of the play was released in the United States, and later in November 2006 in Britain. The film, also titled ''
The History Boys
''The History Boys'' is a play by British playwright Alan Bennett. The play premiered at the Royal National Theatre in London on 18 May 2004. Its Broadway debut was on 23 April 2006 at the Broadhurst Theatre where 185 performances were staged be ...
'', was directed by Nicholas Hytner and featured the original stage cast.
Awards and nominations
Original London production
Original Broadway production
References
Further reading
*
*
*
*
External links
*
*
*
''The History Boys''at the
Royal National Theatre
The Royal National Theatre in London, commonly known as the National Theatre (NT), is one of the United Kingdom's three most prominent publicly funded performing arts venues, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal Opera House. I ...
''The History Boys''– Richard Wortley's radio production; original National Theatre cast
{{DEFAULTSORT:History Boys, The
Plays by Alan Bennett
LGBT-related plays
British plays adapted into films
Mass media in Sheffield
Royal National Theatre
Broadway plays
West End plays
2004 plays
Drama Desk Award-winning plays
New York Drama Critics' Circle Award winners
Laurence Olivier Award-winning plays
Tony Award-winning plays