Old Sock Drawer

Currently listening to: “Falling Slowly” – Glen Hansard & Markéta Irglová

[Best Play, 2006 Tony Awards]

On Friday night, I watched the Arts Club Theatre’s production of Alan Bennett’s Tony Award-winning play, The History Boys. A brilliant and irreverent romp in “anarchy, sex and education”, the story outlines the path of eight British schoolboys as they strive on in their pursuit of getting into Oxford and Cambridge. Taking lessons from Hector, an old, eccentric Literature teacher, and Tom Irwin, a young maverick, they learn to see the world from a different perspective, while turning life on its head and questioning. Questioning preconceived notions, twisting propositions on their heads, challenging suppositions, debating. Daring to speak out and discover themselves. (Or in the words of Rent, “going against the grain/going insane/going mad”.) But that aside, most importantly, a story of the importance of freedom in education – an acknowledgment of the fact that knowledge is ever-growing and ever-changing and nobody ought to be stuffed into little closeted boxes.

There is just so much in this play that tosses you into a rabid intellectual rollercoaster ride. And it is positively delightful. Debate on the Holocaust. Debate on word usage- “put into proportion” vs “put into context”, “racial” vs “racist”, “explained away”, etc. A fantastic scene of improvisation and snark…entirely done en français. Literary quotations abounding. Historical allusions aplenty. It’s all just brilliant. Toss that all together with lots of British sarcasm and wit, and pull it in with historical slides flashing to a marvellously thumping 80s Britpop playlist, and you’ve got one of the most amazing plays on education ever written.

…so I’m definitely watching it again.
I love the movie, but seriously, the play > the movie. Any day.

The History Boys runs at the Granville Island Stage from September 25 – October 25, 2008.

Tags:   live theatre · plays1 Comment