Events at the Shop
Alan Bennett - The History Boys
Wednesday 19 May 2004
On the day following press night at the National Theatre, Alan Bennett spoke at the London Review Bookshop about his latest play, The History Boys, in which an unruly bunch of bright sixth-form boys have to deal with staff-room rivalry between, among others, a maverick English teacher, a headmaster obsessed by results and a history teacher who thinks he’s a fool. The play asks questions about history and how it should be taught, and about education and its purpose.
Introduction
Listen now (20:20)
Bennett explains why there is no text yet available for purchase, and reads from the introduction to the play due to appear in the published volume.
Audience Questions – Some Biographical Background
Listen now (15:17)
Bennett answers questions from the audience on:
- His time in the Footlights and acting generally
- Whether he ever studied history and when he started to feel that history really mattered
- The differences between writing for the stage and for television
- What he thinks about his work being on exam syllabuses
- What he gained from two years studying Russian
- The most interesting obstacle that he has had to overcome once the process of writing a play is underway
- Whether it was possible to have a gay love life at Oxford in the 1950s
- Whether he has ever returned to his old school.
Audience Questions – on The History Boys
Listen now (21:10)
Bennett discusses:
- the romantic elements to the relationship between the teachers and the boys in the play
- who is the better teacher in The History Boys
- the difficult questions of naming characters, and of writing ‘as’ yourself or as other people
- the issue of relevancy of the play to later generations and especially to women
- the background to the writing of the play, including an explanation of the integration of the filmed segments into the play.
Life Imitates Art
Listen now (4:40)
Bennett closes with an anecdote on the dramatic backstage events at the opening night.
Recorded and edited by Adrian Leibowitz and Brett Wilson
Common Custom:documentary & archive
Alan Bennett’s plays include The History Boys, Talking Heads and The Madness of George III. His books include Untold Stories, Writing Home and most recently the novella The Uncommon Reader, which first appeared in the LRB.
Further Reading
If you enjoyed this event, you may also be interested in:
New York Poets - An Anthology