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A lesson in life studies
Hector (Richard Hope) is charged with taking the class photo by the head (Christopher Ettridge), flanked by Mrs Lintott (Susan Twist) and Mr Irwin (Mark Field) in the middle row, neatly keeping the school's maverick teacher out of the picture The History Boys
The New Alexandra Theatre
**** WE all have teachers we remember fondly
from those lost days of youth. Mine was Mr Routh, like Hector in Alan
Bennett’s celebrated play, a teacher of English Lit and General Studies,
the latter a subject he taught with infectious and chaotic enthusiasm
and a scant regard for the syllabus – if ever there was one. We all passed, using his advice to waffle with
style, so he must have been doing something right. Rather like Hector,
Routh delighted in knowledge for its own sake, not something to cram
into pupils by rote for exams and qualifications. Richard Hope gives us a wonderfully eccentric portrayal of Hector, a teacher approaching retirement at a fictional Sheffield grammar school, who saw his teaching as an antidote to education as seen by his General Studies inclusion of the likes of Gracie Fields, George Formby, Brief Encounter and a whole host of films and poets. The play is set in the 1980s, and above Hector is
the headmaster, a rather pompous man, a manager rather than a teacher,
whose ideas are a station or two up the line from reality. Played with a sort of flamboyant arrogance by
Christopher Ettridge, he wants to see his school gaining more academic
prestige in the world. A group of history students being prepared for
the Oxbridge entrance exams – and the school is yet to have a history
student at Oxbridge - are the first step along the road. Their history learning has been well provided by
Mrs Lintoff, played with a refined air, punctuated by delightful sparks
of more robust Anglo-Saxon, by Susan Twist. She is old school and
despairs at the new style of speculation and supposition in modern
history presentations. Not withstanding though,she has given the boys
their history foundation, but the head is less sure about Hector’s more
cavalier attitude to both Oxbridge and learning in the preparation for
the exams; so he employs a specialist coach, Mr Irwin, a product of
Corpus Christie, Cambridge, whose role is simple, prepare the history
boys for the entrance exam any way he can - and get them through. Mark Field is a determined, if a little insecure,
Irwin, whose modern, look for a different angle, smoke and mirrors
methods are at odds with both Mrs Lintott’s fact based approach and
Hectors more casual, laid back approach to examinations in general and
Oxbridge in particular. The boys find themselves between the exam driven
Irwin and knowledge seeking Hector and we see some fine performances
from the youngsters especially Steven Roberts as the unfortunate Posner,
who despairs at being small, Jewish, gay - and from Sheffield. Posner is
the class song and dance man, and although the sound could perhaps
benefit from a tweak upwards, he does the job well with Alex Hope, as
Scripps, playing a fine piano accompaniment. The singing is a pastime
encouraged by Hector who runs
a
sweep on his ability to recognise scenes from old films acted out by the
boys. There was the rather surly Rudge, played by David
Young, whose main academic attribute seemed to be an ability to play
rugby at a high level, then Akthar, the Moslem along with Crowther
(Matthew Durkhan), Lockwood (Patrick McNamee) and Timms (Joshua
Mayes-Cooper) and then there was Dakin. Dakin, played by Kedar Williams-Stirling, is
romantically, or perhaps more accurately, lustfully engaged in the
pursuit and eventual conquest of the headmaster’s secretary Fiona
(Melody Brown).
He is also the target of affection of Posner and,
less predictably, Mr Irwin, who we discover is not all he seems in more
ways than one. Discovering Dakin appears to have a foot in both sexual
camps only added to the knowledge of a more carnal nature we had already
gleaned, starting with Hector’s habit or taking home a different boy on
his motorcycle each evening. It would be a naïve audience in the extreme who
did not find suspicions aroused and it is not long before we realise he
rides with one hand on the handlebar with the other holding on to his
pillion passenger in a somewhat intimate way. When his riding style is spotted, by chance, by
the headmaster’s wife matters, and Hector’s career, come to a head . . .
with the head. Yet, despite Hector’s lack of negotiating chips,
Bennett gives us not one but two two unexpected twists to take us to the
end . . . and a link back to the beginning of each act, in a play,
which rather like school, ends with neither completion or conclusion. There are moments in the play, in a clever
classroom set from Libby Watson, that people will recognise from their
own schooldays, and perhaps that is where the success and popularity of
the play lies, school is a common and universal experience. – the
audience can indulge themselves in revisiting their youth. It was most unlikely there was a groping teacher
on a motor bike, a sexually receptive school secretary, or a young
teacher with a briefcase full of secrets in the school attended by
anyone among the first night audience at a particularly chilly Alex, but
just the sight of desks, pupils and teachers is enough to start a
journey into nostalgia. Director Kate Saxon keeps things moving along as
we see relationships and ideas unfold and perhaps question the real
purpose of education Regarded as Bennett’s masterpiece, it was voted the
nation’s favourite play in an English Touring Theatre poll and whether
you agree or not, it is certainly one to tick off any theatrical bucket
list. Sell a Door theatre company's production is
entertaining, funny, witty and, at times, rather sad and it will
reawaken host of school memories. To 28-02-15 Roger Clarke
23-02-15
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