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A review by joypouros
The History Boys by Alan Bennett
2.0
At its least troubling, the play is about privileged young men who are trying to get into a good college. Not just good. Only the best will do. And it's full of quotes from poetry and literature. There's one whole scene that's predominantly in French. Ah, the witty banter of the elite intellectuals. Do we really need a play about that? Who is it serving? It's clearly not meant for a diverse audience.
And that's the best aspect of this play.
Now add in a teacher who is molesting the students and one student who is sleeping with the school secretary. And it's all done as a plot device or a punchline. No trauma. The students joke about it.
The boys seem to get along fine, with none of them really minding getting occasionally hit, or getting fondled by their teacher. One is gay, and they all seem to know that and tease him about his crush (another student) but they are all just a great group of friends.
I'd consider the dialogue to be an elistist version of Gilmore Girls - speaking in quotes and references.
Plot (WITH SPOILERS):
An older teacher, who molests the boys while "driving them home" on his motorcycle, teaches for the sake of education. He doesn't believe in teaching to pass an exam. They should learn for the love of it. The ambitious headmaster hires a younger teacher to help get the boys into better college, and his approach is to teach the boys how to say whatever will get them noticed in their essay - even if they don't believe it themselves. The lone female character is a teacher who believes in teaching more traditionally, and has a couple of controversial lines to make her seem important to the story. The teacher molesting the students is caught, and so is encouraged to retire early. Until the students convince the headmaster to let him stay.
The playwright intended for this to be about the purpose of education. How you teach it, what you take from it. It was supposed to focus on students who feel like the possibilities are endless and the teachers who have somehow found themselves going from those endless possibilities to the depressingly restrictive world of teaching students.
Parts are funny. Most of it's out of touch. It's not believable, but is entirely self-serving. And if you feel differently, just read the massive introduction where Alan Bennett discusses his college experience. It seems he believes in the good ol' days.
And that's the best aspect of this play.
Now add in a teacher who is molesting the students and one student who is sleeping with the school secretary. And it's all done as a plot device or a punchline. No trauma. The students joke about it.
The boys seem to get along fine, with none of them really minding getting occasionally hit, or getting fondled by their teacher. One is gay, and they all seem to know that and tease him about his crush (another student) but they are all just a great group of friends.
I'd consider the dialogue to be an elistist version of Gilmore Girls - speaking in quotes and references.
Plot (WITH SPOILERS):
An older teacher, who molests the boys while "driving them home" on his motorcycle, teaches for the sake of education. He doesn't believe in teaching to pass an exam. They should learn for the love of it. The ambitious headmaster hires a younger teacher to help get the boys into better college, and his approach is to teach the boys how to say whatever will get them noticed in their essay - even if they don't believe it themselves. The lone female character is a teacher who believes in teaching more traditionally, and has a couple of controversial lines to make her seem important to the story. The teacher molesting the students is caught, and so is encouraged to retire early. Until the students convince the headmaster to let him stay.
The playwright intended for this to be about the purpose of education. How you teach it, what you take from it. It was supposed to focus on students who feel like the possibilities are endless and the teachers who have somehow found themselves going from those endless possibilities to the depressingly restrictive world of teaching students.
Parts are funny. Most of it's out of touch. It's not believable, but is entirely self-serving. And if you feel differently, just read the massive introduction where Alan Bennett discusses his college experience. It seems he believes in the good ol' days.