Book 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
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. The History Boys premièred at the National
in May 2004. 'Nothing could diminish the incendiary achievement of
this subtle, deep-wrought and immensely funny play about the value and
meaning of education .. In short, a superb, life-enhancing play.' Guardian
Alan Bennett first appeared on the stage in 1960 as one of the
authors and performers of the revue Beyond the Fringe. His stage plays
include Forty Years On, Getting On, Habeas Corpus, The Old Country and
Enjoy, and he has written many television plays, notably A Day Out,
Sunset Across the Bay, A Woman of No Importance and the series of
monologues Talking Heads. An adaptation of his television play An
Englishman Abroad was paired with A Question of Attribution in the
double bill Single Spies, first produced at the National Theatre in
1988. This was followed in 1990 by his adaptation of The Wind in the
Willows and in 1991 by The Madness of George III, both produced at the
National Theatre. His stage version of The Lady in the Van was first
seen in the West End in 1999.
