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The History Boys

AuthorAlan Bennett

NarratorFull Cast

Duration2h 29m

CategoriesAdult Fiction, Plays and Dramatisations

Key StageA Level

PublisherBBC

VersionUnabridged

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Alan Bennett's new, award-winning play as heard on BBC Radio 3 features the National Theatre cast. Richard Griffiths, Clive Merrison and Frances de la Tour star. At a boys' grammar school in Sheffield, eight boys are being coached for the Oxbridge entrance exams. It is the mid-eighties, and the main concern of the unruly bunch of bright sixth-formers is getting out, starting university - and starting life. At the heart of 'The History Boys' are four characters, each with contrasting outlooks on teaching and school: Hector, an eccentric English teacher with no interest in exams; Irwin, a young supply teacher who sees history as `entertainment'; Mrs Lintott, a traditionalist, who teaches `history, not histrionics'; and a Headmaster obsessed with results. Winner of the Olivier, Evening Standard, Critics' Circle and South Bank Show Awards for Best New Play.

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