Young Jesse Peach directs a brilliantly-cast blend of veteran icons of New Zealand drama (George Henare OBE, Annie Whittle, Bruce Phillips) and an eclectic set of plucky young up-and-comers in the title role. 

The action takes place in the 1980s and focuses on this class of eight gifted but rowdy young sixth-formers and their favourite teacher Mr Herbert (Henare).  A passionate lover of words and literary ideas for their own sake, he is also fiercely anti elitist establishments typified by Cambridge and Oxford, for which his students are contenders if they can only focus their energies on passing the necessary examinations.

Enter Irwin (Andrew Ford), who specialises in passing exams rather than adhering to general facts or the popular view.  His job is to get these likely lads placed in Oxbridge at the behest of glory-seeking headmaster Felix Armstrong (Phillips), anxious to improve the reputation of his also-ran institution.  Irwin’s view that getting through higher education is more of a flashy floorshow is in direct contrast to Hector’s purist beliefs.

Together, the students are a veritable fireworks show of energy, intelligence and irreverent humour.  Dakin, the head stud played by Harry McNaughton, is an uncompromising swaggerer brimming with masculinity who enjoys condescending to everyone else, especially his teachers. Elliot Christian-Yule plays Posner, a diminutive gay Jew who wins the audience’s heart with his forlorn longing for Dakin and the touching musical interludes he sings with impressive piano accompaniment from the story’s main ‘narrator’, wry token religious lad Scripps (Todd Emerson).

Chris Tempest’s Rudge, a rugby-playing lummox voted least likely to place anywhere in the venerated Oxbridge system, is perhaps a touch more likeable than his smarmy intellectual colleagues.  Nic Sampson as the scruffy Timms almost never sits down and shuts up even less. 

There are no bad casting decisions among the boys or their teachers, and the British accents are well maintained by all throughout.

Given the early eighties setting, the hallowed halls of academia are still altogether male-dominated, though the voices of women are just beginning to wear a crack in the petrified foundations of patriarchy.  As such, the boys’ third teacher Dorothy Lintott (Whittle) is the mistress of diplomacy, carefully but determinedly choosing her moments to speak her mind. 

It’s curious that we never actually see her teaching in class; mostly she’s seen reflecting with her peers and alleged superior in the staffroom, though it’s interesting that Mrs Lintott narrates the epilogue, explaining where the characters have all ended up: the ultimate voice of the history of the History Boys.

It’s really no secret that the boys’ favourite English teacher is also a bit of a perve with the lads when he rides them home on his motorbike.  Strangely, there is no sense at all of any unwanted abuse or alienation; the most sinister aspect of Hector’s controversial wee pastime is the apparent lack of any sinister undertones whatsoever.  Even Hector’s peers seem more annoyed by the inconvenience when he’s finally busted than appalled or disgusted by his abuse of power.

Overall the production values are excellent. First-time set designer Emily O’Hara manages to evoke an abstract but believable English grammar school using stacks of overloaded bookshelves stage right, drab cinderblock walls stage left and a benignly imposing though rarely employed stripe of blackboard in between.  Lynn Cottingham’s wardrobe design fits the bill in a more perfunctory way; notably Hector is the only character wearing any colour besides black, white or grey.

This was my first experience of this celebrated play.  I gather many of the audience were already familiar with Beyond the Fringe cult legend Alan Bennett’s play first produced five years ago, largely thanks to the acclaimed film version of 2006.  On the first watch it seems to have potential to be the kind of cult show that warrants repeated watching, with so many characters to get to know, plus the relentless barrage of quotes and allusions to works and events historic, academic, literary, cinematic and so on et cetera.
_______________________________
For more production details, click on the title above. Go to Home page to see other Reviews, recent Comments and Forum postings (under Chat Back), and News. 

Copyright © in the review belongs to the reviewer

A clever blend of thought provoking moments and engaging madness produces good theatre

It is easy to see why Alan Bennett’s play has enjoyed phenomenal success on both sides of the Atlantic as well as being a smash hit at the 2006 International Festival in Wellington. The play delivers a deeply intellectual treatment of a difficult topic in a package both emotionally engaging and hugely entertaining.

Reversing the usual clichés about an unconventional teacher awaking a love of learning in an unresponsive students, Bennett opens with an impossibly clever group of school leavers preparing for their final examinations. What is at stake is whether the boys will jump through the hoops required so they can gain entrance to Britain’s top universities. [More]
_______________________________
For more production details, click on the title above. Go to Home page to see other Reviews, recent Comments and Forum postings (under Chat Back), and News. 

Copyright © in the review belongs to the reviewer