The History Boys, Close Up Theatre – Greenside

**** (4 stars)

Having had an awful night’s sleep, a one hour walk in torrential rain at 9:30am and a two and with a half hour theatre production ahead of me, I was understandably not in the best frame of mind for appreciating Close Up Theatre’s version of The History Boys. Thankfully however, the convincing acting from the schoolboys dragged me out of my dreary mood and dazzled me with their sharp wit and insightful theories on education. My favourite character, however, had to be Hector, a flawed teacher whose inappropriate sexual contact with his students leads to his downfall despite the boys’ affection for him. This tale of conflicted teaching methods and strained relationships shines through the entire production.

Despite a couple of dragging scenes and some questionable song choices used to split up these scenes, the production is an overall success with not one bad performance through the entire duration. The main aim in the boy’s lives is to become students of Cambridge or Oxford, and they are encouraged in this passion by the head teacher.  Hector tries and fails to battle against this, insisting there are other universities and experiences out there. The introduction of new teacher does not help his cause as he puts emphasis on exams and getting into Oxbridge.

The atmosphere is largely light hearted, quick fire jokes and insults coming from every one of the school boys, which are occasionally crude but on the whole the humour is intelligent and witty, the audience often breaking out into fits of laughter. The continuous undercurrent of the complications of homosexuality adds a depth that is portrayed very sensitively as both teacher and student experience the pain of unrequited love in some manner.

At points the performance is truly moving; during the climax I could see some grown men wiping away the tears, very impressive work from the cast here. Any production that has me still pondering about the issues it addresses is a successful one in my opinion. This had me thinking back to my own secondary education and how it could have been improved. Despite Hector’s blatant problems as a teacher he was good; the effect he has on the end of the play only secures the importance of good teaching in schools.

Greenside Theatre, running until the 28th August, 10.30am. £7/£5

Laura Jones