The History Boys by Alan Bennett

January 19th, 2008

The History Boys
Alan Bennett
109 p + xxvii p

Faber & Faber, 2004.

Back cover blurb:

An unruly bunch of bright, funny sixth-form boys in pursuit of sex, sport and a place at university. A maverick English teacher at odds with the young and shrewd supply teacer. A headmaster obsessed with results; a history teacher who thinks he’s a fool.

In Alan Bennett’s new play, staff-room rivalry and the anarchy of adolescence provoke insistent questions about history and how you teach it; about education and its purpose.

Let’s be honest: I saw the film before I read the play. However, seeing as the differences between the two are so tiny, it doesn’t matter much. I instantly fell in love with the story. I adore Cambridge as a town, and even the slightest mention of it makes me giddy. (My sister got accepted to an undergraduate there, which means I will soon have a reason for going there, apart from homesickness.) Cambridge is mentioned not all the time, but a lot of the time. Oxford is also big, but I’ve never been there, and I don’t have any kind of relationship with that place. Now, the thing is that I don’t want to study in Cambridge. One person in my family’s going there, why should I? It wasn’t Cambridge that was the reason I loved this play so much.

It was the characters and their relationships I completely fell for. They are all so beautiful. Some of them are right arses, but they are described with so much vigour that even the worst people seem interesting. There are extremely few characters - even I, with a memory of about five minutes, can keep track of them. Posner is in love with Dakin, who in turn gets more or less with obsessed with their new teacher, Irwin. This subtle homosexuality, obviously there but never too apparent, was aweinspiring. It is gay at its best. It’s not deemed unnatural, but nor is it that everyone is gay. The cast is almost completely male, with one female teacher, who is fantastic. All of these characters are people I would love to talk to, if only for just a little bit. (I must admit that I wouldn’t want to spend too mcuh time with Dakin, who is a little nasty, despite being extremely fascinating.)

And the language! It is fluid and gentle and honest and it flows like a river. It is sprinkled with references I can and cannot place, incorporated like the most natural thing in the world. They quote poems and songs from the thirties; they know all the words to When I’m Cleaning Windows off by heart. I love George Formby. It’s these small things that makes it is such a joy to read. In the film they play the intro to This Charming Man, which had me in fits of fannish glee. (yes yes yes, I know, you shouldn’t let your opinions of a film influence your opinion of the work it’s based on.)

Now I really want to see the play staged. And I want to see the film again. And then, maybe, I shall read the play again. It was good enough to.

Entry Filed under: Drama, English, LGBT-related