Status
Available
Call number
Genres
Publication
London : Faber and faber 2004.
Description
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 teacher. A headmaster obsessed with results; a history teacher who thinks he's a fool. In Alan Bennett's classic play, staff room rivalry and the anarchy of adolescence provoke insistent questions about history and how you teach it; about education and its purpose. The History Boys premiered at the National in May 2004.
User reviews
LibraryThing member elliepotten
I bought the movie version of 'The History Boys' years ago - I think I was at uni, so it was probably when it first came out on DVD - but I barely remember a thing about it. In case you haven't come across it before, it's basically a play about eight boys trying to get into Oxford and Cambridge,
The first thing I have to say about this book is that I really enjoyed Alan Bennett's introduction. Obviously the point of a play is to be watched, and reading the script isn't for everyone, but a good introduction is always a valuable addition to the experience, as far as I'm concerned. Bennett's is wryly amusing and very interesting, particularly for someone younger, like me, who tripped into higher education in the noughties when the whole process and meaning was rather different. It explains the play's firm roots in Bennett's own journey through the education system, and points out little elements of various characters that come from the playwright's life and the people he knew. It was nice having that context in mind when I started reading!
On to the play itself... I thought it was wonderful! As with so much of Bennett's work, it managed to combine provocative thought and deep themes with giggle-aloud humour and irresistable literary eloquence. Although several of the boys took a while to straighten out in my mind, the majority of the characters (both students and teachers) are larger than life and so utterly real that I felt like I was sitting in that classroom listening to the banter and the ribbing, rather than reading a script. And it's so FUNNY! I'm sure we all remember certain people - boys, in particular - who lit up a classroom with their sense of humour, were often a bit racy or pushed their luck on occasion, but who charmed everyone including the teachers. These boys are like that, and it made reading the script such a delight!
In between the hilarity, there are also some really interesting points and discussions about education and history. Irwin's introduction of original thought by asking the boys to turn questions and concepts upside down and attack them head-on taught me more about critical thinking than I ever learned at school; if I'd read this before university my essays might have been much better! The tension between Hector and Irwin, between educational styles and purposes, between jumping through hoops and being deliberately provocative, all mixed together into one big discussion of what elements of education are more important - and indeed, whether the mad push to get to university is worth it at all. What I particularly liked was the way the very moving ending suggested how meaningless much of the boys' education really was, yet the memories of Hector and Irwin and the underlying lessons they taught still stood firm. I've found that to be quite true in my own life, and it felt like a fitting conclusion. Highly recommended - now, I'd better go and dig out that DVD again!
Show More
under the watchful eyes of old romantic Hector and young tutor Irwin. Anyway, I DO remember chuckling away at the boys' cheek, and Richard Griffiths being wonderful, so when I heard that he'd passed away recently it seemed like revisiting it would be a fitting tribute. This time I hit the library and got hold of a copy of the script first, hoping that I'd maybe catch some of the wordplay and nuances better that way!The first thing I have to say about this book is that I really enjoyed Alan Bennett's introduction. Obviously the point of a play is to be watched, and reading the script isn't for everyone, but a good introduction is always a valuable addition to the experience, as far as I'm concerned. Bennett's is wryly amusing and very interesting, particularly for someone younger, like me, who tripped into higher education in the noughties when the whole process and meaning was rather different. It explains the play's firm roots in Bennett's own journey through the education system, and points out little elements of various characters that come from the playwright's life and the people he knew. It was nice having that context in mind when I started reading!
On to the play itself... I thought it was wonderful! As with so much of Bennett's work, it managed to combine provocative thought and deep themes with giggle-aloud humour and irresistable literary eloquence. Although several of the boys took a while to straighten out in my mind, the majority of the characters (both students and teachers) are larger than life and so utterly real that I felt like I was sitting in that classroom listening to the banter and the ribbing, rather than reading a script. And it's so FUNNY! I'm sure we all remember certain people - boys, in particular - who lit up a classroom with their sense of humour, were often a bit racy or pushed their luck on occasion, but who charmed everyone including the teachers. These boys are like that, and it made reading the script such a delight!
In between the hilarity, there are also some really interesting points and discussions about education and history. Irwin's introduction of original thought by asking the boys to turn questions and concepts upside down and attack them head-on taught me more about critical thinking than I ever learned at school; if I'd read this before university my essays might have been much better! The tension between Hector and Irwin, between educational styles and purposes, between jumping through hoops and being deliberately provocative, all mixed together into one big discussion of what elements of education are more important - and indeed, whether the mad push to get to university is worth it at all. What I particularly liked was the way the very moving ending suggested how meaningless much of the boys' education really was, yet the memories of Hector and Irwin and the underlying lessons they taught still stood firm. I've found that to be quite true in my own life, and it felt like a fitting conclusion. Highly recommended - now, I'd better go and dig out that DVD again!
Show Less
LibraryThing member elmyra
Greatly enjoyed the movie, and the play is even better. Also found Alan Bennett's introduction interesting.
LibraryThing member lycomayflower
I saw the film version of The History Boys and I fell in love with it. With an exam of my own looming , I felt like revisiting this material again. Both of the "History Boys" books (for the film and for the play) have lovely "extras" in them--The History Boys: The Film contains an introduction by
Show More
director (of both the play and the film) Nicholas Hytner, a brief filming diary from Alan Bennett, and both behind-the-scenes and still photos from the movie, as well as the shooting script (including several scenes which were edited out of the final released film). The History Boys: A Play includes, along with the original play itself, an introduction by Alan Bennett in which he recounts his own memories of A-levels, sitting entrance exams, and going to Oxford. The dialogue and the characters in The History Boys are simply delightful and the commentary on education and on the effect teaching has on teachers is, I think, both brilliant and understated. I welcomed the opportunity to read both the play and the shooting script and compare them to the preserved end-product in the film. It's fascinating to see what was changed from play to film and what bits ultimately got left out (or edited out) from the script and what bits from the play wound up back into the film despite not being in the shooting script. Ultimately, I think I like better both the film's slightly more sympathetic portrayal of Irwin, whose position as a teacher just barely older than his students I find very easy to empathize with (though the similarities, for the most part, end there), and the subtlety that comes with the film's (necessary?) removal of most of the asides to the audience (though I can imagine that on-stage and think it likely works well there). Show Less
LibraryThing member loremipsem
This play is fabulous. Completely unrealistic, but funny nonetheless. The boys are well drawn and seeing it performed is a wonderfully funny experience. The boys are all highly articulate and there is an air of high camp that pervades everything. The boys are torn between two opposing schools of
Show More
educational thought as they try to get into university. their teachers war over method, but the students come through strongly regardless. Show Less
LibraryThing member Panopticon2
Amazing. I only listened to the radio adaptation of this wonderful play, but now I'm desperate to see it on stage. In the meantime, I need to get a hold of last year's film adaptation on DVD. And I want to listen to the audio version again - I feel like I've only just scratched the surface and
Lucky for me I have a very long flight coming up, providing a perfect opportunity to listen to this story again, in one sitting. How could I resist Mrs. Lintott's diatribe on the trials of being a female historian? "History is a commentary on the various and continuing incapabilities of men. What is history? History is women following behind with the bucket." ;-)
Show More
there's so much more to be gleaned from this story of sixth-form English schoolboys preparing to do admissions interviews for Oxbridge. And the acting!! Gah...I'm sure I'm not the only one who withered in the face of the Headmaster's vitriol. (On Mr. Hector's, um, unorthodox teaching methods: "F*ck the Renaissance...and f*ck literature and Plato and Michelangelo and Oscar Wilde and all the other shrunken violets you people line up. This is a *school*. And it isn't *normal*.")Lucky for me I have a very long flight coming up, providing a perfect opportunity to listen to this story again, in one sitting. How could I resist Mrs. Lintott's diatribe on the trials of being a female historian? "History is a commentary on the various and continuing incapabilities of men. What is history? History is women following behind with the bucket." ;-)
Show Less
LibraryThing member Xleptodactylous
"The best moments in reading are when you come across something — a thought, a feeling, a way of looking at things — that you'd thought special, particular to you. And here it is, set down by someone else, a person you've never met, maybe even someone long dead. And it's as if a hand has come
When Posner reaches out to grasp Hector's hand... That's everything.
Show More
out and taken yours." - Hector.When Posner reaches out to grasp Hector's hand... That's everything.
Show Less
LibraryThing member MikeFarquhar
I missed seeing a performance of The History Boys in Nottingham by the slimmest of possibilities last month (had to cover a late shift at the last minute because a colleague was stricken with a weird mosquito carried bug that’s currently plaguing India, and we had failed to get a locum in time),
In the preface, Bennett describes how the play came to be written, and illuminates part of it with a slight autobiographical element, telling of his own experiences with getting into Oxbridge.
The play itself is grand - a look at education and what it’s for; at history and how we perceive it; and at how teachers affect those in their charge and vice versa. The plot is simple; eight sixth-formers in a modern grammar school in Sheffield in Thatcher’s 80s are in preparation to take Oxbridge entrance exams (for it will reflect well on the school). Their teaching has been in the care of Hector, a relatively unorthodox English teacher nearing retirement age; the Headmaster, fearful that Hector’s style of teaching will not produce the results he craves, introduces a new young History teacher, Irwin, to try and improve the odds. Hector believes in learning simply for the sake of it; Irwin that knowledge is simply a tool to achieve the best you can for yourself, and has no real intrinsic value – so in this context, everything is not about what you know, it’s how best to twist it to make yourself stand out for the Oxbridge entrance vivas. Hector believes in the truth of knowledge; Irwin that it’s OK to present the facts to suit your needs. The clash between the two is is epitomised nowhere better than the scene where Irwin exhorts a Jewish lad to make use of that in answering a question on the Holocaust, to give a shock answer safe in the knowledge that he can’t be criticised because of his background, while Hector simply looks on aghast.
Hector is not without his sins however; he’s prone to fondling the boys when he gives them lifts home on his motorbike, something for which they seem to pity him rather than fear him. Bennett raises questions relating to this but doesn’t really address it full on (in interview Richard Griffiths, who I can already imagine playing Hector to perfection, has pointed out that the boys are all over 18, which makes it not-quite-paedophilia-but-also-very-clearly-not-right, and that it never goes further than a sly grope – but it clearly plays into Bennett’s themes of relations between teachers and pupils, and what is owed, and where boundaries should be)
Bennett’s skill has always been an ability to write realistic, perceptive and funny dialogue, and this is a fine example of him at its best. There are more than a few laugh out loud moments from the script (I suspect the French brothel scene will be even better when seen acted out) , and the themes behind it all are powerfully conveyed.
It’s a play that deserves to be quoted from often in the future, and I expect it will be. Irwin gets a speech to start the second act which stuck in my mind for a while.
Show More
and I was gutted. Bennett’s most recent play, which debuted in 2004, has gathered huge critical acclaim, commercial success and awards to its name, and I’d have loved to have seen it performed before I read it. However, I finally caved in and bought the script. There’s a film version, with the original cast, due along this week, so it looks as if I’ll experience it in two other media before seeing it performed live now.In the preface, Bennett describes how the play came to be written, and illuminates part of it with a slight autobiographical element, telling of his own experiences with getting into Oxbridge.
The play itself is grand - a look at education and what it’s for; at history and how we perceive it; and at how teachers affect those in their charge and vice versa. The plot is simple; eight sixth-formers in a modern grammar school in Sheffield in Thatcher’s 80s are in preparation to take Oxbridge entrance exams (for it will reflect well on the school). Their teaching has been in the care of Hector, a relatively unorthodox English teacher nearing retirement age; the Headmaster, fearful that Hector’s style of teaching will not produce the results he craves, introduces a new young History teacher, Irwin, to try and improve the odds. Hector believes in learning simply for the sake of it; Irwin that knowledge is simply a tool to achieve the best you can for yourself, and has no real intrinsic value – so in this context, everything is not about what you know, it’s how best to twist it to make yourself stand out for the Oxbridge entrance vivas. Hector believes in the truth of knowledge; Irwin that it’s OK to present the facts to suit your needs. The clash between the two is is epitomised nowhere better than the scene where Irwin exhorts a Jewish lad to make use of that in answering a question on the Holocaust, to give a shock answer safe in the knowledge that he can’t be criticised because of his background, while Hector simply looks on aghast.
Hector is not without his sins however; he’s prone to fondling the boys when he gives them lifts home on his motorbike, something for which they seem to pity him rather than fear him. Bennett raises questions relating to this but doesn’t really address it full on (in interview Richard Griffiths, who I can already imagine playing Hector to perfection, has pointed out that the boys are all over 18, which makes it not-quite-paedophilia-but-also-very-clearly-not-right, and that it never goes further than a sly grope – but it clearly plays into Bennett’s themes of relations between teachers and pupils, and what is owed, and where boundaries should be)
Bennett’s skill has always been an ability to write realistic, perceptive and funny dialogue, and this is a fine example of him at its best. There are more than a few laugh out loud moments from the script (I suspect the French brothel scene will be even better when seen acted out) , and the themes behind it all are powerfully conveyed.
It’s a play that deserves to be quoted from often in the future, and I expect it will be. Irwin gets a speech to start the second act which stuck in my mind for a while.
Show Less
LibraryThing member jwhenderson
The award-winning play by Alan Bennett is a great read. More devoted to the influence of words (the "dictionary" boy role of Posner) and music than the later screenplay, the play emphasizes the differing perspectives on education of the two lead teachers (Hector and Irwin). Without the need to
Show More
"open up" demanded by film Bennett focuses on the schoolroom and uses subtle effects to effect his dramatic purpose. In doing so he is successful in creating a delightful dramatic and comedic portrayal of ideas, all while evoking the spirit of bright young scholars at a key turning point in their lives. Show Less
LibraryThing member book_and_a_crumpet
I can associate with nearly every single factor in the History Boys film. It is set in my home town; it is about the direction to be followed at this time of my life; it is about history students; it is about change. The book is not different. Apart from the fact it is better. The writing, whilst
Show More
having a relatively narrow range of style for the different characters shines and the work comes into it's own. A brilliant book, and a brilliant story that I'm sure everyone can equate to in some way or another. Easy to read, easy to understand, and yet about something so confusing. A book the be savoured and re-read time and time again. Pass it on! Show Less
LibraryThing member george.d.ross
Read this in conjunction with seeing the movie. I think the cuts made may have actually been for the better -- the film seemed a bit subtler, less obvious in its "message". There is a great deal to love about this work -- the language, the setting, the characters -- but I take issue with its
Show More
old-fogeyish suspicion of postmodernism. Show Less
LibraryThing member Ceilidhann
The perfect encapsulation of the joy, the value and the importance of education for all.
LibraryThing member Caitdub
I loved this play when I saw it in NYC so on my way out of the theater, I fished some change out of my pocket and bought it right there. Not my most money-wise moment but I was hungry for some good reading.
Reading the play was even better since I was able to catch things I'd missed when I first
This is an excellent play, with every word being weighed and measured.
Reading the play was even better since I was able to catch things I'd missed when I first
Show More
saw it on stage. It isn't exactly the most economical play with somewhere around 11 characters on stage, but I think the British have more money for theater. Lucky cats, they are. This is an excellent play, with every word being weighed and measured.
Show Less
LibraryThing member marmel.cest.moi
I read the book after re-watching the film version, and must say that I found the screenplay to be much tighter in terms of narrative flow and continuity. The themes seemed to be more clearly delineated -- Hector is the center of the film version in a way that he appears more muted in the play.
Show More
Posner in the film is more fully realized, too, and the relationship between Dakin and Irwin is easier to see than to read although I'm not sure how much I liked the actor's work who played Irwin. A thought-provoking read but an even better viewing opportunity for those who choose to see the film. Show Less
LibraryThing member DrFuriosa
An intersting play about coming-of-age, but lacks the coherence and direction of some of the terrific plays I've been reading.
LibraryThing member Pferdina
This short play is about a group of boys applying to university and the three teachers who are trying to help them.
LibraryThing member crabbyabbe
Probably better seen as plays are meant to be. Interesting arguments as to what equals a good education. The homosexual references added nothing to the plot. Even though the writer's gay, if the words don't move/enhance the plot, why include it?
Favorite Quote: "How do I define history? It's just
Favorite Quote: "How do I define history? It's just
Show More
one fucking thing after another." Show Less
Subjects
Awards
Tony Award (Winner — Play — 2006)
New York Drama Critics' Circle Award (Play — 2005-2006)
Olivier Award (2005)
Drama Desk Award (Winner — 2005-2006)
Language
Original publication date
2004
Physical description
xxvii, 109 p.; 20 cm
ISBN
9780571224647
Similar in this library
DDC/MDS
| 822.914 |