"The History Boys" by Alan Bennett

Nottingham Lace Market Theatre

First of all let me say that the whole run of this production was sold out before the show opened which indicates the quality of the play, the writing and the cast. All of these three I completely back.

The play is one that I have seen on several occasions and is one of those stories that you just don't tire of. This is due to the wonderfully rich writing of Alan Bennett and a story that never really ages, even though it's set in the 1980s. It's issues are relative in any decade you set it, including today, so you can never tire of excellently observed pieces of literature, something that writers such as Bennett and Godber excel at.

The writing is well balanced with as much humour as there is pathos and inner pain. It takes you through the end of school pressures for those final exams as they try to get their places at Oxford and Cambridge and meanders through the personal lives and situations of the boys involved.

But it's not just the boys' lives we have insights to, as the teachers are just as important and as fascinating with the battle, almost for teaching supremacy between Hector and Irwin.

Making her directorial debut is Immi Lea, who also doubled as the designer for the set. I think we can safely say that this is big success for Immi. The set taking me back to my school days and subtly split into a separate area for the headteacher's office area.

Playing Hector is Piotr Wisniewski, who we don't see on stage as much as we should. Reminding me a bit of Gyles Brandreth in looks, this is a wonderful portrayal of Hector. I've seen this play on several occasions and every actor seems to bring a different quality to Hector. Piotr is no exception; he made this role his own.

James Hallam (Irwin) brings out the passion of the latest rookie teacher who ends up in a wheelchair. There are several skins with Irwin and we see just a few unpeeled to reveal his life outside school.

Richard Fife (The Headmaster) reminds me of a headteacher I once had, authoritative but quite laid back.

Vicky Elizaga (Mrs Lintott) makes her Lace Market Theatre debut, and what an addition to the fold. A lovely relaxed and controlled performance and I hope that Vicky sticks around for more plays.

Lewis Fernandez is perfectly cast as the good looking, self assured and cocky protagonist Dakin. Sexually confident and knows how to pull the strings of some of his fellow pupils. He's aware of Posner's attraction to him and keeps him hanging there.

Daniel Salmon, again perfectly cast as Posner, the young Jewish boy infatuated with and madly in love with Dakin. His adoration for his fellow pupil is reflected in the puppy eyes he flashes at Dakin and his flirtatious singing of "I'll sing to him, each spring to him. And worship the trousers that cling to him" from "Bewitched".

Joe Kinch (Scripps) is another Lace Market Theatre first timer and had the dual role of playing the most religious boy in the class as well as being the narrator for the play. Along with everyone else, his relaxed performance leaves you warmed to him, and his character so easily.

Rahil Ghazani (Akthar), Normally one of the characters who you may not remember in the play, but this group work so naturally with each other that Akthar's character is remembered as the Muslim student and isn't relegated to the back desks of the classroom.

Jack Harriman (Crowther) also a newcomer to the Lace Market Theatre family. The character is into acting but went on to become a magistrate. Hopefully Jack won't take the same route as his character!

Jorden Myrie (Lockwood), has already clocked up an impressive CV of work, having been trained at the BAFTA Award winning Television Workshop in Nottingham. Again this character isn't one that automatically stuck out by Jorden made sure that Lockwood wasn't at the back of the class.

Chris Collins (Rudge), in the latest of a long string of characters Chris has played over the years. Chris has really got behind this character. There's a danger of portraying Rudge as a bit of an idiot, but Chris has pitched Rudge right where he should be; not the sharpest knife in the box but he has hidden talents which work for the character to get him what he wants and where he needs to be for his own ends.

Adam Goodchild (Timms), plays the main joker in the pack. Comedy works well for Adam, he looked like he was having fun on stage, as did all the "lads". Adam's cheeky fresh face, as well as his acting talents, is obviously why he was a natural choice for this role.

This is a cast that has been put together from all different and varied experiences and backgrounds and has blended together to make a really smooth and comfortable to watch cast. They could have been at school together and could have been the best of mates, This cast made me believe this, and the chemistry is great to behold.

It's not a rare thing of late to see a cast that work together as good as this cast do because local theatre has that magic. When the Director and Casting team work their magic with a talented cast, it's not only good to see, it's very exciting for the audience.

It's no secret that I love the rawness of Northern playwrights and this play is right up there as one of my favourites. When you see such a marvellous cast that perform with great chemistry and love for what they do, it's quite emotional. I had no hesitation in rising to my feet at the end to show my appreciation for a unifying talent that graced the stage.

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The History Boys at the Lace Market Theatre is a 'must-see' - review

'he bursts in on Hector’s English lesson and interrupts a trousers-down brothel scene'

Immi Lea, in her directorial debut, has come up with a terrific The History Boys, better in key respects than professional previously seen productions in Nottingham.

It’s partly the inspired casting - all roles are splendidly acted. But the smallness and intimacy of the Lace Market Theatre space helps when it comes to differentiation of character and the interplay of ideas and themes. It turns over some big issues - What is history? What should education really be about? The tellyisation of things academic.

It’s all very Alan Bennett: characters step out of the action to address the audience, and there’s that gentle nostalgia. With his tweed suit, bow-tie and liberality Piotr Wisniewski is wonderful as Hector; he makes him tragic as well. As he walks round flicking boys about the head, he reminds one of the young Bennett himself, acting in Forty Years On.

No matter that this is a never-never school. It has remarkably compliant pupils - they take turns to speak - and all lessons are interrupted by the bell with the teacher in full flow. Initially, the school seems strangely small; there are only three teachers. The wider institution is suggested by super back-projected footage (done at Bromley House Library).

Nor does the chronological muddle matter, the confusion between the deferential fifties, with its tolerance of what is now labelled paedophilia, and the market-oriented eighties and nineties. The Headmaster (played brilliantly by Richard Fife) – the only character in the play un-self-conscious about the role he’s playing - is getting so target-driven he frequently resorts to the f-word.

There’s cracking comedy when he bursts in on Hector’s English lesson and interrupts a trousers-down brothel scene with everyone talking French. But we’re touched by such episodes as Hector and Posner (Daniel Salmon) - gay, Jewish, and, from Sheffield - discussing a Hardy poem.

Get a ticket.

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Theatre Review: The History Boys

Voted the nation's favourite play in a 2013 poll, Alan Bennett's 2004 stage classic set in a Sheffield grammar school in the 1980s remains both funny and thought-provoking.

We all had them, those teachers we loved and those we hated. It was the way they taught that distinguished them. I could tell you every detail of my history teacher's own life, but nothing about which George was which in European history, yet another got us to reference every lyric to fact in Billy Joel's 'We Didn't Start The Fire' and I could probably still reel them off today.

A combination of comedy and pathos, the play's subject matter begs the question; should education be pragmatic or idealistic? Does education belong to the brain or to the heart? It's a battle of hearts and minds. Preparing for the Oxford and Cambridge entrance examinations, on the one level the story tells of the contrasting styles of teaching. The ageing eccentric Hector delights in knowledge for its own sake, believing 'exams are the enemy of education', teaching his pupils to be thoughtful, but Headmaster Lintott wants the school to move up the academic league table. Enter supply teacher, Irwin, a more cynical character with a ruthless style of teaching, who guides the students to be educated, pass exams and win scholarships.

Delve deeper and it explores a complex web of sex, the energy of adolesense, homosexuality and sexual abuse. It can make you feel uncomfortable at times. First perceptions are that the boys taught by two very different teachers, yet essentially both are grooming them in different ways. One plays with their minds, the other with their bodies. In todays times, should we be laughing at the touching of a school boys genitals by an appreciative teacher? Director Immi Lea has kept the story as truthful and authentic to the original text as possible, but you feel it sits more comfortably in the 1950s, rather than the era, which tinges the comedy with self-consciousness, yet you'll still fall for the plays charms in the way you might with any coming of age stories such as Goodbye Mr Chips or Dead Poets Society, thanks to heavy dollops of tenderness and vunerability, and yet its so much more than that. From Thatcherite values we see how time has given way to a more results driven society.

When the original production opened at the National Theatre in London back in 2004, it launched the careers of James Cordon, Dominic Cooper, Samual Barnett and Jamie Parker. This production boasts some exceptional actors and if you like future star spotting, look no further than ex West Notts College student, Daniel Salmon, as Posner who has the line of the show 'I'm a Jew, I'm small, I'm homosexual and I live in Sheffield. I'm fucked' and Lewis Fernandez, another protege from the Nottingham Actors Workshop, as Dakin. I've never seen the film, but I can't imagine anyone fitting the characters as this talented cast who shine when each given wry internal monologues.

Director Immi Lea also designed the set, with all the drama taking place in the classroom. A couple of chairs and a cabinet to the side of the stage serve as the headmasters study. It's basic, but with such rich dialogue from Bennett, you need nothing more.

Scenes are punctuated with blasts from the soundtrack of the 80's. Blondie, The Pet Shop Boys, Madness and co get an outing as footage of the boys, filmed at Nottingham's Bromley Library is projected on the rear wall, holding the audiences attention.

Running at three hours, a play can be bum-numbingly long, but The History Boys is guaranteed to have you captivated.

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