The History Boys

The best moments in reading are when you come across something – a thought, a feeling, a way of looking at things – that you’d thought special, particular to you. And here it is, set down by someone else, a person you’ve never met, maybe even someone long dead.

As an unruly bunch of bright, funny sixth-form boys pursue sex, sport and a place at university, adolescent anarchy and staffroom rivalry provoke insistent questions about history and education.

The History Boys premiered at the National Theatre, London, 2004, winning Evening Standard, Critics’ Circle, Olivier and South Bank Awards. On Broadway, it received numerous awards, including six Tonys.

‘Nothing could diminish the incendiary achievement of this subtle, deep-wrought and immensely funny play about the value and meaning of education . . . a superb, life-enhancing play.’ Guardian

‘Brilliantly funny, with lines that we will, I hope, be quoting for years to come and several show-stopping vignettes. Bennett is still naughty, impish, endlessly ironic. But by the end tears are as near as laughter. The History Boys is moving, disquieting: one follows it with a heart brimful.’ Financial Times