The History Boys: A Play (2004)

by Alan Bennett

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875	29	24,706	(4.08)	75
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.… (more)

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Lessons of the Masters by George Steiner (librorumamans)
librorumamans: Lecture One in Steiner's book is particularly useful to read alongside Bennett's play; a connection that Bennett himself acknowledges in his introduction.

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English (28) Italian (1) All languages (29)

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Una storia semplice e certo non nuova, ma messa in scena in maniera intelligente, spassosa e amara insieme, con dialoghi sempre brillanti e una struttura temporale intelligente. (

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d.v. | May 16, 2023 |

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 one fucking thing after another." (

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crabbyabbe | Feb 24, 2022 |

This short play is about a group of boys applying to university and the three teachers who are trying to help them. (

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Pferdina | Apr 11, 2021 |

I picked this up after seeing an excerpt from the play in the recent National Theatre 50th Anniversary, and before watching the DVD version of the play in its entirety. (

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resoundingjoy | Jan 1, 2021 |

This was really troubling. It depicts a story which would have been feasible in its time, but right now, it doesn’t half have a different feel to it. It makes you think, really think, about attitudes that were held a few years ago, and to be honest this is probably close to how things were in some places.
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Vividrogers | Dec 20, 2020 |

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Author name	Role	Type of author	Work?	Status
Alan Bennett	—	primary author	all editions	calculated
Griffiths, Richard	Reader	secondary author	some editions	confirmed
Hytner, Nicholas	Introduction	secondary author	some editions	confirmed
Merrison, Clive	Reader	secondary author	some editions	confirmed

▾Series and work relationships

Is contained in

Alan Bennett: Plays: BBC Radio dramatisations by Alan Bennett

Has the adaptation

The History Boys [2006 film] by Nicholas Hytner

The History Boys: The Film by Alan Bennett

Has as a supplement

The History Boys [theatre programme] 2004 by National Theatre

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Canonical title

The History Boys: A Play

Original title

The History Boys: A Play

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The History Boys (2006 | IMDb)

Epigraph

Dedication

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Irwin is in a wheelchair, in his forties, addressing three or four unidentified MPs.

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Disambiguation notice

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File:The History Boys.jpg

The History Boys

▾Book descriptions

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.

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Book description

The play opens in Cutlers' Grammar School, Sheffield, a fictional boys' grammar school in the north of England. Set in the early 1980s, the play follows a group of history pupils preparing for the Oxford and Cambridge 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.

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