Hall for Cornwall, Truro, Cornwall – until 7th September 2024
Reviewed by Kerry Gilbert
3***
‘Intelligent, witty with lots of humour’
The 20th anniversary production of Alan Bennett’s modern classic, is a winner of 30 major awards and voted The Nation’s Favourite Play in 2013.
The History Boys tells the story of a group of 8 boys at Cutler’s Grammar School being prepared for their university entrance exams during the mid 1980s.
Eight unruly teenagers burst into adulthood with the best grades their school had ever seen, but their sights are set on something higher: to study at the most famous academic institutions in the world – Oxford and Cambridge. But, their teachers can’t agree how to tutor them. There’s Hector (Simon Rouse), the maverick English teacher who believes in culture for its own sake; Irwin (Bill Milner)– the shrewd supply teacher full of soundbites; Felix (Milo Twomey)– the headmaster obsessed with league tables and Mrs Lintott (Gillian Bevan) – the History teacher who thinks her colleagues are all fools.
The pupils are excellent, each creating characters which are full of questions and facing the challenges of being on the brink of adulthood. The pupils were known as Dakin (Archie Christoph-Allen), Posner (Lewis Cornay), Timms (Teddy Hinde), Scripps (Yazdan Qafouri), Rudge (Ned Costello), Akthar (Mahesh Parmar) and Crowther (Tashinga Bepete). Lewis Cornay is one to watch as Posner, with a gorgeous singing voice and total command of the audience.
The play was wonderfully acted, but there’s a hugely uncomfortable element too …. Bennett stacks the deck in favour of Hector, and the production can’t temper the play’s blasé attitude toward sexual harassment and teacher-pupil intimacy. The production is full of 80s music and choreographed sequences around the ever revolving piece of staging. The boys are responsible for all of this and the set changes were seamless.
My favourite part was when the boys performed a stomp-a-long to Adam and the Ants ‘Stand and Deliver’. The music is well sung and the depth of talent of the boys is evident.
The production provokes thought and reflection on society but most of all it engaged and entertained the audience.