Alan Bennett's The History Boys

This article explores Alan Bennett’s The History Boys, as a contemporary play, which manages to be highly entertaining and at the same time educationally enriching. While not written for adolescents, they have flocked to see the play onstage. Among other topics, the author focuses on the different methods of teaching history of three teachers at a secondary school in the North of England in the 1980s. Dramatic conflict and humour derive from the way the author pits against each other the view of history held by his teacher-protagonists, often throwing the students into a state of intellectual confusion. Which teacher are they to believe? Through a close reading of the play, it would appear that the spectator, including an adolescent spectator, is left free. He or she can choose to identify with one of the teachers and the view of history she or he is purporting, or simply watch the play, appreciating the challenging intellectual debate it sets forth.