Uwishunu.com

The History Boys is the best serious play I’ve seen in a long time. The production, currently running at the Arden, is having its Philadelphia premiere at the Old City theater after sweeping Broadway in 2006 and scooping up a whopping 6 Tony Awards. One of the most acclaimed plays of the decade, it’s clear why it’s such a favorite: the script is completely brilliant – at turns witty, searching, heartfelt, socially relevant, disturbing, intellectual, scandalous, titillating, and completely hysterical.

The plot involves a bunch of clever boys in their last year at a British boarding school in the 80’s. For years they’ve been taking classes with the aging yet motorcycle-riding Hector, their favorite teacher, who has delighted them with a teaching style that is less about learning the subject matter and more about imparting a broad, anecdotal, quotation-laden, “useless” tidbit-filled love of knowledge. In an effort to prepare the boys for admissions exams to Oxford and Cambridge, a new young teacher is brought in whose style is a stark contrast to Hector’s. The play is less about the plot than it is about how and what we learn, as well as the muddled and complicated feelings between adolescent peers and their teachers.

This all sounds awfully serious – but don’t worry, it isn’t! The play is peppered with tons of dialogue so witty that you need to think about it for a minute before dissolving in laughter, as well as impromptu songs and musical numbers. There’s also quite a bit of scandal amongst boys who care more about sports, sex, and one-uping each other than about scholastics. The Arden puts on a solid production, with talented young actors playing the students, and a versatile set of rolling desks and chairs. The play itself is so inspired that it would be hard to put on a production of it that’s anything but dazzling. (Full disclosure: it’s hard for me not to be enamored by a play that’s filled with quotations from A. E. Housman.) The play is so entertaining that you don’t even realize until afterwards how serious and thought-provoking it is. If there’s one show you should see this season, this is it.

The History Boys
Now through November 1st, 2009

Arden Theatre Company
40 N 2nd Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106
(215) 922-8900
www.ardentheatre.org