If you’re not familiar with Alan Bennett’s The History Boys, then you really should rectify that. A brilliant way of doing so would be to go and see what promises to be a magnificent performance of this modern classic at the Oxford Playhouse next week.
I was informed that the director (James Lorenz) was keen to replicate the open discussion of the original run’s rehearsals at which Bennett himself was present, something which was immediately noticeable during the time I spent with the cast. There is an amazing rapport amongst this group of “boys”, who in the breaks during the rehearsal maintain an uncanny likeness to their characters, throwing things, balancing scripts on their heads, and constantly cracking jokes. A combination of the fantastic cast that has been assembled and this open forum for ideas made for a delightful three quarters of an hour in their company. This was demonstrated all the more during the rehearsal, with enormous enthusiasm shared by every member of the cast and the director.
The short run of scenes which I slotted in to watch (it was refreshing to see a rehearsal at work rather than an overly-prepared snippet) moved from a typical lesson with Hector (the superb and Salvador Dali-esque Benedict Morrison) to the boys testing out a fledging Irwin (Harley Viveash). Viveash’s perfect tone of voice was matched by captivating body language as he leapt, slid, and wound his way around the classroom, interacting perhaps most of all with the self-confident Dakin, played by Tommy Siman. Siman’s lingering words created the perfect frisson with Irwin, suggesting just enough of the bubbling closer relationship underneath.
It is hard not to recognise the similarities between the performances in this production and the 2006 film adaptation, but with a play like The History Boys one might ask whether a director can significantly make it their own. This has not stopped Lorenz and his cast trying, however: in particular by casting a distinct Hector who does not conform to the Richard Griffiths expectation, but who still retains his crucial stage presence and quirky mannerisms. It undeniably appears to be a conventional production, but to criticise it for this would simply be wrong; the work they have done on this play, considering the lengthy holiday break, is astonishing.
Amongst the ensemble cast, all of the actors fit into the characteristic classroom roles with ease, from the gruff and disinterested Rudge (Frazer Hembrow), through the more tender Posner (Luke Rollason) and the thoughtful Scripps (Nathan Ellis), to the attention-seeking pair of Tibbs and Lockwood (Jack Herlihy and Tom Lambert). Being, of course, also a play with musical interludes, which are seized upon with great gusto by the boys, it was somewhat peculiar to watch Scripps tinkling the ivories on a table and humming the tunes, although he does assure me that the budget will stretch to a piano on the night.
There does not seem to be a single weak link in this cast, and whatever they are doing, it is most definitely working. Now as I say, go and see it you foul, festering, grubby-minded little trollops.
