Philadelphia Weekly

Freedom of teach: Hector (Frank X) uses unconventional education methods to help his students learn.

The Arden Theatre Company begins their 2009-10 campaign with a magnificent production of Alan Bennett’s Tony Award-winning drama The History Boys .


An ingenious playwright at the height of his powers, Bennett’s story takes place during the 1980s at a boys’ prep school in Northern England.


The male students are guided in their studies by their likeable professor Hector (Frank X). A gifted and unconventional teacher who instills a desire to learn in his students, Hector informs his charges that “all knowledge is precious” and that “examinations are the enemy of education.” His views stand in opposition with those of the school’s conservative headmaster (David Howey). Concerned that Hector’s teaching methods are “unquantifiable,” the headmaster hires a young teacher (the excellent Matthew Amendt) to give the boys a more practical education. 


The contrasting methods of Hector and Irwin allow Bennett to expose the shortcomings of Britain’s education system. For Hector, education is its own reward. In his class the students gleefully perform improvised skits, musical numbers and scenes from vintage films. Irwin conversely views education as a means to an end. Instead of teaching the boys the facts of history, he instructs them to “perform” for the admission boards of prestigious universities, drilling the boys on what to say and how to say it. 


However, it’s neither the play’s involving exploration of educational pedagogies nor its compelling look at the randomness of history that makes Boys so engaging.


Theatrical and often very funny, Boys ’ boasts an emotional honesty that is genuinely disarming.


With the exception of the one-
dimensional headmaster (who is aptly described as a “twat”), the characters are complex human beings, flawed, fragile and wonderfully natural. 


Director Terrence J. Nolen’s cast is exceptional, led by X, who gives an impressively nuanced performance.


A compassionate, devoted man who disdains boundaries, Hector is fond of fondling his students’ genitals as they ride piggyback on his motorcycle. The act is described as being more “appreciative than investigative” and instead of feeling threatened or abused, the students appear amused by his actions. 


The leader among the students (and Hector’s favorite driving companion) is Daken (Evan Jonigkeit in a penetrating performance). Confident and handsome, Daken is worshiped by his timid and musically-inclined classmate Posner (Michael Doherty). Summarizing his life, Posner tells us, “I’m small. I’m a Jew. I’m homosexual and I live in Sheffield. I’m fucked.” In a touching performance, Doherty conveys the depth of Posner’s angst and his quiet determination to remain true to himself.


Doherty and Jonigkeit stand out, but the production abounds with strong performances, especially Maureen Torsney-Weir who is outstanding as the practical Mrs. Lintcott, the lone woman in a school of men.


Directed with keen insight by Nolen, the production is the Arden’s best since their spellbinding 2007 staging of the musical, Caroline or Change . If you enjoy Philly theater, it doesn’t get much better than the Arden’s History Boys . ■