The History Boys Deserve Top Honors

The History Boys

By Alan Bennett

Directed by Scott Edmiston

Janie E. Howland, Scenic Design; Gail Astrid Buckley, Costume Design; Karen Perlow, Lighting Design; Dewey Dellay, Original Music/Sound Design; Dawn Schall, Production Stage Manager

CAST:  The Faculty: Bob Colonna (Hector), Chris Thorn (Tom Irwin), Timothy Crowe (Headmaster Felix Armstrong), Paula Plum (Dorothy Lintott); The Boys: Mohit Gourisaria (Akthar), Sheldon Best (Crowther), Dan Whelton (Dakin), Samson Kohanski (Lockwood), Karl Baker Olson (Posner), Jonathan Popp (Rudge), Jared Craig (Scripps), Joe Lanza (Timms)

Performances through June 7, 2008 at Speakeasy Stage Company

Box Office 617-933-8600 or www.bostontheatrescene.com

All knowledge is precious, even if it serves no purpose. Discuss. With apologies to Mike Myers and his alter ego Linda Richmond (Saturday Night Live), this is the fundamental debate that creates the conflict at the center of Alan Bennett's hit comedy The History Boys. The 2006 Tony Award-winner for Best Play is having its New England premiere at the Speakeasy Stage Company with Norton Award-winning Director Scott Edmiston shepherding an impressive cast made up of veterans and area college students or alumni.

If defining education is the primary question, then figuring out the appropriate boundaries of the student/teacher relationship is a close second and Bennett proffers the choice of two diametrically opposite models of behavior, at least at first blush. Hector (Bob Colonna) is a maverick English professor who wants the boys to think outside the box and appreciate the value of all knowledge, including what they can learn while riding on the pillion of his motorcycle. Irwin (Chris Thorn) is the wunderkind History tutor who places the emphasis on knowing all the right things for the sake of achieving the goal, even if that means disputing the norm, twisting the facts, or being evasive. Both men challenge the boys academically and personally, but in divergent ways.

The audience is challenged to grasp all of the literary, historical, and pop culture references bandied about in the classrooms of these two teachers by the eight precocious young men in their charge. Still, even without familiarity with the poems of Philip Larkin, the music of George Formby and Gracie Fields, or the rules of the children's game known as "Pass the Parcel," the finger snapping quick pace of the banter is lively and engaging. (Fortunately, the program contains two pages of British vocabulary pertinent to the play.) All of the boys are active participants in class and cohere as a polished ensemble, but three stand out as integral to the story.

Jared Craig as Scripps struggles with his religious beliefs and is often the moral center of the group. His even keel stays the course when faced with the adolescent angst of Posner (Karl Baker Olson), settling awkwardly into his homosexuality, and Dakin (Dan Whelton), whose apparent intellectual, social, and sexual facility belie his inner turmoil. Each member of this trio sensitively reveals what is under the surface of his character and gives a true portrayal of the ascetic, the abstinent, and the hedonist, playing off each other very well. Special praise goes to Olson for his lovely singing voice, used to great effect on Lorenz and Hart's "Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered," and his spot on Bette Davis impression. As this group's Elvis, Whelton is the catalyst for most of the sexual energy that sends sparks flying around the Cutler Grammar School.

It is a boys' school, after all, so the only female representative on the faculty is Dorothy Lintott, resident feminist and voice of reason. Who better to play this role than the inimitable, unsinkable Paula Plum making her Speakeasy Stage debut (ditto for the entire cast)? She is made to look stylishly frumpy, with a straight cut silver-gray wig, long skirt, sensible shoes, and eyeglasses on a chain around her neck. She speaks in a take-no-prisoners direct manner and makes a lot of sense. But her traditional teaching methods, while effective in conveying mass quantities of material, aren't sufficiently cutting edge for the headmaster (Timothy Crowe) who unabashedly hungers to get his students into the prestigious institutions of Oxford and Cambridge ("Oxbridge"). Plum makes the most of the one opportunity Bennett gives Lintott to voice her inner thoughts vis-à-vis the study of History and the ineptitude of men. It is truly a Helen Reddy moment! Crowe's strong turn as the bilious Headmaster Armstrong effectively earns our distrust and disdain, morphing into delight when he gets his just desserts.

In spite of the title of the play and the obvious significance of the boys, I find the stories of Hector and Irwin to be the most interesting. Hector is one of those passionate, avuncular teachers whom everyone fondly reminisces about at the class reunions because he is singular and makes a difference in the lives of his students. His General Studies classroom is a wide-open and exhilarating place where lessons include acting out a scene in a French brothel, quoting long verses of poetry, and debating the merits of education itself. With his rumpled tweeds and white beard, Colonna looks the part and has the boys (and the audience) eating out of his hand and caring about him. Tom Irwin is the antithesis of warm and fuzzy, but Thorn makes him an intriguing, albeit thorny, enigma. He wears only his purported academic superiority on his sleeve challenging the boys to figure out why he is so repressed and closeted. 

Janie E. Howland has created a rich, cluttered library set with dark paneling, floor to ceiling bookshelves, and a spiral staircase leading to the stacks. Large lettering on the floor spells out the dictionary definition of knowledge. The headmaster's office, a faculty lounge, and a student locker area stand out with special lighting when called into service. The boys are dressed in uniform navy blue blazers and rep striped neckties, although they often shed their jackets, roll up their white shirtsleeves, and loosen their ties for a more relaxed demeanor. It seems that Edmiston has thought of everything to create the atmosphere of the fictional school and showcase Bennett's intelligently written script against a backdrop with great detail.

The History Boys happens to be set in a British grammar (secondary) school in the 1980s, but it could just as easily take place in any average or elite American institution today. It is a timely treatise about the state of education as teachers are increasingly forced to "teach to the test" and forego instilling the importance of lifelong learning (can you spell MCAS?). Just as these boys are developing their own value systems and trying to decide their futures, two powerful external forces blow into their midst on the opposing sides of an educational conundrum. Of course, this is only one of several sticky wickets strewn about the stage as they learn that they can no longer rely on the adults to solve their problems. Playwright Bennett lets us in on how they all fare in the end, but the fate of education remains to be determined and will ultimately be recorded in history.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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