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Interesting issues and questions: some questionable treatment. Review by: liz, Nov 22, 2007 |
My responses to the play were mixed. Some of the issues raised were interesting, e.g. how and what students should be taught and what is useful in life afterwards; history - what it consists of and how it is determined; the sexual drives and lives of the characters, certainly relevant in the case of young men.
However, I did feel the blithe manner in which the teacher / student sexual contacts were treated, especially in this ... read more age of sensitivity (church, etc.) was somewhat disturbing. Whether heterosexual or homosexual, the relative ages and positions of the individuals involved is open to question. It certainly diluted the admiration one could have for a teacher such as Hector.
The author did muddy up his interesting and intellectually challenging issues with, I think, a morally questionable approach. Perhaps he felt that this ambiguity reflected real life (perhaps it does).
In any case, the interesting issues and characters still made for an enjoyable evening of theater. |
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Recommended for:
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What did I miss? Review by: TWJ, Sep 29, 2006 |
| I was so perplexed when I left the performance. The buzz was so good for the History Boys. Is everyone oohing and ahing because they want to be seen to be part of the buzz? I got online to read more opinions and was delighted to read Mary's intuitive entry. What WAS the point? The great last line was what needed to be explored. Is he trying to point out that it's the pursuit of the various sexual interactions among teacher/staff/students which ... read more were going to get passed along? Maybe. The characters weren't developped enough to make me care much except to see them as pathetic. THe female teacher had some great lines but they were lobs. We leave knowing nothing about her. |
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My recommendation:
Don't go
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What's it all about? Review by: mary, Sep 22, 2006 |
| After so much positive review about this play I must say we were very disappointed. It was difficult to determine if the main theme was about sexual identity/homosexuality or if it was just inserted gratuitously. Certainly that was the strongest thread throughout the play. (We are not homophobic...just unclear about the play's real intent.) The remaining themes were only stitched together and underdeveloped. The tension about means and purpose ... read more of education has so much potential and this play lost that opportunity. There were no characters we cared about and Irwin's important fate was suddenly and sloppily thrown into the mix, despite overdone foreshadowing. We left feeling despondant when we left the theater. Definitely not worth the money! |
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HISTORY, IS IT; OR GAY AGENDA SPIN? Review by: frankiePA, Sep 16, 2006 |
Not for everyone, not for persons who think teachers ought not engage in homosexual statutory rape of their students. Great thinkers, such as those who advocate man/boy sex, will buy into the "deeper meaning" of homosexual grope, and the renunciation of responsibility by teachers to the students placed in their charge. The Purpose of Education, according to The History Boys, is homosexual activity between teachers and boys. As for history, ... read more as the play tells us, "It's just one f...ing thing after another." The intellectual depth of such a statement just dazzles.
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Best show on Broadway in a LONG time Review by: Sarah, Sep 5, 2006 |
| Absolutely stunning. It's not for everyone; you see, you need to have an open mind and functioning brain to appreciate the beauty of Alan Bennett's play. Acting is uniformly excellent, and when it was over, it felt like mere minutes had passed. I'm going back to see it again in a week- never have Tonys been more deserved. |
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My recommendation:
must see!
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Waste of time/money Review by: kfd, Aug 26, 2006 |
I had read the critics' reviews and knew of the Tony Award. Went with my husband and 14 and 17 year old sons with high hopes. What a disappointment! There was some witty banter, but overall to me the play seemed a series of disjoint skits dramatizing the impact of two teachers, neither very well fleshed out aside from one's supposedly teaching "for arts sake" and the other "for the application of knowledge to get ahead." Couple that with ... read more both teachers' being sexually involved with their students!
Both seemed pathetic little men and I wasn't sure why I was supposed to care about either of them. In the event, I didn't. I thought this show a waste of time/money. |
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Pediphillia gets in the way of deeper issues . . . or maybe they are one and the same Review by: amyteach, Jun 25, 2006 |
I wish Allan Bennett had left out the pediphillia. Realizing that this aspect of Hector's personality makes him more rounded, it still weakens the central thrust of the play. Teachers abusing their students (whether actual or planned) overwhelms all further debate on the play's very important issues. Hector's fatal flaw is an impediment to reason.
Will we raise our students to be Donald Trumps, commanding "respect" for their ability to ... read more do what is expedient and successful rather than what is moral and true? Homosexuality need not be a part of the large "untruth" that fills our modern world. If only Hector or for that matter Irwin had the courage be who they were, but then of course the Headmaster may not have hired them. So sad -- the lies we tell our children and ourself. |
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TONY AWARD'S ALL TIME DISGRACE - SEX ABUSE AS VIRTUE Review by: wendyb, Jun 21, 2006 |
NOT Intellectual, not honest, not the best thing on Broadway in years; just an amoral agenda-driven play that presents a teacher's sexual abuse of minors in his charge as just the jolly fun of a funny old teacher who --- being homosexual --- just can't help himself.
While the Catholic Church is paying out millions in lawsuits of damages resulting from child abuse cases, here comes a play from the Mother Country set to teach us Yanks ... read more that students are in history class primarily to provide available victims for homosexual preditors. The moral emptiness of the play is underscored by the dishonesty in the advertising and the summaries of the play. They want your $96.25, want to lay their agenda on you, and if you don't like it, well Bug Off! |
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The best thing on Bwy in yrs Review by: em, Jun 20, 2006 |
This play was brilliant and the acting does not get any better. Its funny, tragic and thought provoking. This is a very witty play which does not talk down to the audience; I think that it really is aimed at a well-educated, sophisticated audience and I can see where the avg. joe would not "get it" or even feel threatened by its intellectualism.
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History Boys - The Darker Side of Doubt Review by: ralph, Jun 14, 2006 |
| THE DARKER SIDE OF DOUBT, the History Boys claims to be about the purpose of education and a strong willed history teacher resistant to change. Nonsense! The teacher played by Tony-winner Richard Griffiths never teaches much of anything. His history classes are made up of snippit reenactments of famous movie scenes (who guesses the title first) and genuinely funny interplay taking place in very bad French. Griffiths is a commanding presence on ... read more stage by reason of his 300 pound shaped-like-a-teapot body topped off with a ton of white hair. As a teacher, he's an inept clown at best. The true focus of the play is Griffiths' finally getting caught at his frequent homosexual dabblings with his minor students. He's a jolly old fool, you see; and the headmaster who lowers the hammer on the sexual abuse is presented as a prig (or worse). Sharply at odds with the moral core of "DOUBT" ---- as well as many milti-million dollar lawsuits in America the past few years --- the play's sympathy is 180 degrees different than Mother Superior in "Doubt." HISTORY BOYS presents an overload of homosuality and indeed mocks a younger gay teacher who wants to keep hands off his students. None of the boys in this class ever talk about girls. Hmmm! I have to wonder, as the audience applauded the curtain call, how many were parents of teenage boys. So very liberal, these Broadway patrons; applaud the character and backbone of "Doubt" one night, applaud the moral vacuum of "History Boys" the next. Not recommended for anyone. |
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Worst Show Review by: , Jun 4, 2006 |
| This was a horrifying show. I had no idea what this story was about until I had to painfully sit through it. How can people applaude a story of a professor groping his students while he takes them home on his motorcycle. Also, the homosexuality text was upseting. It was a BIG waste of money and time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! |
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Way Overrated Review by: George, Jun 4, 2006 |
| Miss this one . I must be from Mars , My wife and I are avid theater goers and jumped to get tickets as soon as we read the rave from the Times . Wow what a disappointment , first the theater seating in the mezzanine , it was impossible to sit in a comfortable position ( after climbing Mt. Everest to get to our seats ), coach in the worst airline is a pleasure compared to these seats. Where have I been but we were not ... read more prepared for the story around a homosexual professor in a boys school . So for the first time in our 30 years of Broadway attendance we left at the intermission . What do I know - we loved "Ring of Fire". |
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A "History" in Theatre Review by: folkyboy, May 28, 2006 |
I recently saw this production and was blown away by how gripping the story let me fall right into it. There were many moments when the stage would grow silent and the audience would sit there clinging onto every word that the actors had to say. Rarely do I become this insanely enthralled by a production and I found myself wanting to hear more and more about each character's plight.
You hear the reviews about each person's love for this ... read more show and you think indifferently about how you'll "see it when you get the chance, to determine your assumption of the script". Then you get to the intermission and wonder you could've waited so long to not experience this story. Definitely saddened that it's a limited engagement. |
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Broke through the barriers of artifice and encompassed me completely Review by: Tom Bestor, May 28, 2006 |
Alan Bennett’s most recent work was a critical and box-office smash in London. Thanks to an apparently rare détente between British Equity and Actor’s Equity (the British and American stage actor’s unions), the original National Theatre production has been imported to Broadway intact. This means American theatergoers can see one of the most amazing ensemble casts ever, performing a play that both entertains and enlightens. Though it can ... read more be intellectually demanding, with dozens of literary and cultural references ranging from Auden to Hardy to Shakespeare, and one scene conducted entirely in French (which also happens to be perhaps the funniest scene in the play), it’s amazing accessible.
The story takes place at a private boy’s school somewhere in England. Hector is the sort of teacher I wish I could have had in my youth: passionate, demanding, a force to be reckoned with…but with a touch of rebellion with which a teenage boy can identify. Hector’s students are seniors, preparing their applications for Oxford and Cambridge. To help them achieve this goal, the school hires Irwin, a young teacher whose job is to coach the boys as to what the admissions boards at the Oxbridge colleges are looking for.
If you can’t get to the Broadhurst Theater before “The History Boys” closes in September, you can see the movie that will be released this fall. Same cast, same writer, same director – so I’m hopeful. |
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| 15 |
Review by: , May 15, 2006 |
| This show is great. The cast were fantastic. The way they change scenes was different and added a level of movement to the play that helped move it along. This is a must see. |
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My recommendation:
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