Theatre preview: The History Boys at Theatre Royal Bath

Wednesday 20th January 2010

As the curtain falls on its annual panto, the Theatre Royal Bath launches its new season with a classic of modern drama.

Alan Bennett’s The History Boys made a phenomenal impact upon its National Theatre debut in 2004, opening to rave reviews and securing a sell-out run.

It went on to become one of the venue’s biggest ever hits, winning no less than 30 major awards.

Now, West Yorkshire Playhouse, in a co-production with Theatre Royal Bath Productions, presents the first production of this witty and moving story of a Yorkshire Grammar School since the original.

One of the great plays of the decade, The History Boys is set in a school in the North of England where a boisterous bunch of bright, funny, sixth-form boys are attempting to gain entrance to Oxford or Cambridge while evading the distractions of sport and sex.

Staffroom battles and the anarchy of adolescence provide a rich vein of comedy. The headmaster has his eye on the league tables but the endearingly eccentric English teacher, Hector, has very different ideas about how the boys should be prepared for exams and for life.

Taking them through an eclectic timetable encompassing everything from the great poets to Edith Piaf, Hector insists that learning is for life, not just for the exam room.

When the headmaster brings in Irwin, a bright junior master to coach the boys, the pupils’ allegiances are divided.

This much-anticipated production boasts a stellar cast. Hector is played by Gerard Murphy, whose extensive CV includes work at the Royal Shakespeare Company, Bristol Old Vic and Sheffield Crucible; television appearances in Spooks, Trial and Retribution, Waking the Dead and Doctor Who; and roles in films such as Waterworld and Batman Begins.

Penelope Beaumont returns to the Theatre Royal Bath after her performance in last year’s production of Alphabetical Order.

Her stage credits include many roles for the Royal Shakespeare Company and Shakespeare’s Globe, while her television credits include Holby City, Peep Show, EastEnders and Wire in the Blood.

Kyle Redmond-Jones plays the cocksure Dakin. On the silver screen, Kyle has appeared in Star Crossed and The Edge of Love, while television viewers will recognise him from the BBC series Merlin.

The History Boys is one of Bennett’s best-loved plays and in 2005, a film was made with the entire original cast, many of whom, including James Corden (Fat Friends, Gavin and Stacey) and Dominic Cooper (Sense and Sensibility, Mamma Mia!), have subsequently become household names.

Christopher Luscombe directs this groundbreaking play, teaming up with designer Janet Bird, to reunite the creative team behind Alan Bennett’s Enjoy, which played triumphantly in the West End last year after opening in Bath in 2008.

The History Boys will be the fourth Bennett play Luscombe has directed.

Alan Bennett is one of the most distinctive voices in British theatre. Wry and tender, his impeccably-observed plays include Talking Heads, Single Spies, Forty Years On, The Madness of George III and The Lady in the Van.

His new work, The Habit of Art, an imagined encounter between W.H. Auden and Benjamin Britten, is currently enjoying a sold out run at the National Theatre.

NATALIE HALE

The History Boys appears at the Theatre Royal Bath from Tuesday, January 26, to Sunday, January 31. Tickets cost £15.50-£31.50 – call 01225 448844.