The Landmark Play Revived

Alan Bennett and Nick Hytner's Olivier- and Tony Award-winning play returns to the West End in 2027, celebrating over 20 years since its 2004 debut at the National Theatre. A modern classic, The History Boys explores the thorny nature of teaching, class, and adolescence, and in a tour de force of quips, quotes, and wordplay, encapsulates Bennett's signature blend of comedy coloured by poignancy.

This new staging reunites Hytner with producers Brian and Dayna Lee, who recently collaborated on the Olivier Award-winning Giant. 

The History Of The Boys

First showing at the National Theatre in 2004 with a cast including Richard Griffiths, Stephen Campbell Moore, Frances De La Tour, Clive Merrison, Dominic Cooper, James Corden, Samuel Barnett, Russell Tovey, Jamie Parker and Samuel Anderson, The History Boys was an instant hit and has come to be seen as a landmark and era-defining piece of theatre. After scooping three 2005 Oliviers, including Best New Play and Best Director, the show and cast sped over to Broadway, where they repeated their success, taking home six Tony Awards in 2006. A film adaptation soon followed, cementing the play as one of Bennett's finest and most loved. On the news of this much-anticipated revival, Bennett said, “The History Boys is one of the happiest plays I've written. Or rather, it was one of the happiest of my plays to write. It was also one of the quickest to set down, taking far less than my usual five years. So, something of a record for me. The play is full of quotes and has itself become eminently quotable. A joy for any playwright. I welcome its return under Nicholas Hytner."

What Is The Story?

During the summer of 1983, eight Sheffield Grammar School boys are preparing to take the prestigious (and very hard) Oxbridge entrance exam. With the appointment of a dynamic young teacher, Irwin, to help, tensions arise with the boys' incumbent teacher, the old-school and idiosyncratic Hector, as they spar over the value of education, how it should be taught, and how they relate to their charges.