Nottingham Theatre Royal – until Saturday 14 September 2024
Reviewed by Chris Jarvis
4****
This 20th anniversary production of Alan Bennett’s award winning play transports the audience back to Sheffield in the 1980s to share A level results day with 8 boys back at a local grammar school
The History Boys follows this bright bunch of lovable rogues who have achieved the highest grades their school has ever seen. Their league table obsessed headmaster, known to everyone as Felix (Milo Twomey), has sights set on some of them obtaining a place at one or other of the most famous academic institutions in the world – Oxford or Cambridge.
Although he was very complimentary of history teacher Mrs Lintott (Gillian Bevan) in helping achieve these amazing results, it appears she has very little respect for any of her colleagues! Felix had reservations about their English teacher Hector (Simon Rouse) who has years of experience but believes in literature and culture for its own sake, with little application to real life. Lessons became chaotic playouts of a French brothel, a scene from ‘Brief Encounter’ where these crazy boys played out their adolescent fantasies…..
Felix appoints a supply teacher to prepare the boys for their admission exams to Oxbridge – Irwin (Bill Milner), adding yet more opinions on education to the mix. Their teachers couldn’t agree how best to tutor them, and we watched as the boys very quickly learn to “play them off” against each other, though in a more respectful way than in schools in 2024. I smiled to myself as these ‘full of life’ adolescents challenged their teachers in so many ways.
We quickly got to know these characters by surname, as was typical of the pupil teacher relationship in the 80’s. Dakin (Archie Christopher Allen) – full of himself though not quite sure of his sexuality, Posner (Lewis Cornay) – totally sure of his sexuality with eyes only for Dakin, Timms (Teddy Hinde) – the hilarious joker in the group, Scripps (Yazdan Qafouri) thinking of little but his religious beliefs, Rudge (Ned Costello) – a delightful down to earth character soaking up every word, Akthar (Mahesh Parmar) – a lively lovable character, Lockwood ( Curtis Kemlo) – cheekily wearing his baseball cap backwards and Crowther (Tashinga Bepete) who really gave his all during their performance of Adam & the Ants ‘Stand & Deliver’ using his chair as a percussion instrument along with much foot stamping in time to the beat!!
I loved the simplicity of the set that was mostly the same background throughout, but on a rotating platform that was turned around between every act – usually signalled by the school bell for the end of a lesson and watched as the boys changed the set themselves – along with an ensemble of helpers, enjoying a different piece of popular 80’s music with each set change.
There were numerous musical arrangements where the boys danced and sang with beautiful harmonies and some wonderful solos from Lewis Cornay (Posner) perfectly complementing the drama.
Some wonderful ‘one liner’s’ dropped in throughout the play such as “Can you imagine being a female history teacher after 5 centuries of masculine ineptitude?” from Mrs Lintott and Rudge’s definition of history – “It’s just one f***ing thing after another” to quote just two plus a beautifully funny metaphorical monologue from Dakin recounting his fumbling encounter with the headmaster’s secretary in terms of wartime manoeuvres.
I thoroughly enjoyed the play. It reminded me of my own schooldays and the incredible bond that can be made between teacher and pupil. The enthusiasm of the ‘boys’ was clear as they bounced about the stage with obvious enjoyment, infectiously adding to ours. The audience seemed captivated, and it was great to witness the well-deserved standing ovation at the end of the play.