History by the Lake - Theatre by the Lake
Posted: Feb 20 16:27
HISTORY BY THE LAKETHEATRE BY THE LAKE STAGES AWARD-WINNING ALAN BENNETT PLAY
One of Alan Bennett’s finest, funniest and most profound plays – and one that won a string of awards when first produced at the National Theatre in 2004 – comes to the stage of Theatre by the Lake in Keswick from Sat 24 March to Sat 21 April.
The History Boys follows Theatre by the Lake’s much-admired production of Bennett’s The Lady in the Van in the 2008 Summer Season. “Alan Bennett has proved to be a favourite writer with our audiences,” said a Theatre by the Lake spokeswoman. “The History Boys will appeal to anyone who has ever been to school. And since that includes most of us, we are hoping we’ll be putting up the ‘Sold Out’ signs every night.”
In The History Boys, Bennett has created one of modern theatre’s great characters. Hector, a crash-helmeted, poetry-quoting fallible eccentric, is charged with teaching General Studies to a bunch of bright grammar schools boys applying to Oxford or Cambridge in the 1980s.
The unnamed headmaster of Cutler’s Grammar School is obsessed with league tables; but Hector thinks he’s a fool: “The school gives them an education. I give them the wherewithal to resist it.”
Hector also gives them culture, his version of which ranges from Thomas Hardy to classroom versions of Brief Encounter, not to mention the songs of Edith Piaf. The clash between Head and Hector is inevitable as Bennett poses questions about history and how it should be taught; about education and what it is for.
The critics loved the play when first produced at the National Theatre. “A play that strikes me as one of the finest Bennett has ever written, packed with superb one-liners. A play of depth as well as dazzle, intensely moving as well as thought-provoking and funny,” wrote Charles Spencer in the Daily Telegraph.
“Countless dramatists before Bennett have gone back to school for drama. But Bennett's play outshines its predecessors because it is about the tragic and fulfilling aspects of teaching, about the changing face of England and ultimately about the nature of history itself,” added the Guardian’s Michael Billington, who has written a programme note for Theatre by the Lake’s production.
The History Boys won an Evening Standard Award for best play, a Laurence Olivier Award for best new play and, after the production transferred to New York, a Tony Award for best play.
The History Boys opens on Saturday 24 March and runs until Saturday 21 April. Tickets cost £26 - £10. To book your tickets today call the Box Office on 017687 74411 or book online at www.theatrebythelake.com
