The History Boys: A Play

Synopsis

<b>"A play of depth as well as </b><b>dazzle, intensely moving as well as thought-provoking and funny."

</b><b>—<i>The Daily Telegraph</i></b>

An unruly bunch of bright, funny sixth-form (or senior) boys in a British boys' school are, as such boys will be, in pursuit of sex, sport, and a place at a good university, generally in that order.

In all their efforts, they are helped and hindered, enlightened and bemused, by a maverick English teacher who seeks to broaden their horizons in sometimes undefined ways, and a young history teacher who questions the methods, as well as the aim, of their schooling.

In <i>The History Boys</i>, Alan Bennett evokes the special period and place that the sixth form represents in an English boy's life.

In doing so, he raises—with gentle wit and pitch-perfect command of character—not only universal questions about the nature of history and how it is taught but also questions about the purpose of education today.