The History Boys

One of the main pleasures of being a NODA Representative is that we get invited to many diverse performances, this is especially true with the Swansea Little Theatre. I have been delighted to watch a number of totally different plays produced by this company and for my second visit to the company in 2025 this was again the case. This time their production was of Alan Bennet’s The History Boys, possibly one of his most well known works. Having opened in London in 2004 it went on to win a Lawrence Olivier and Tony Award for best play. It follows a group of Grammar School pupils in Sheffield preparing for the Oxford and Cambridge entrance exams. To give them the best chance the Headmaster employs a supply teacher, Irwin to boost their chances, as he feels that Hector, their current teacher, is not getting the best results from them.. It is a powerful piece of theatre with strong language and adult themes. Rhys had designed a clever set for the play which I liked, splitting off the headmaster’s office and staff room from the main playing area. It has a large cast of thirteen so it would be difficult to revue everyone individually but in this play teamwork is essential and I believe that that Sean Jenkins, Thomas Rees, Sam Zhao, Alex Sheldon, David Gwenter , Andrew Barnett, Jordan Struel-White and Paul Johnson achieved this playing the boys, this for me was without doubt the most impressive part of the evening. They had a good relationship and I felt they worked really well together. Congratulations to you all. The Tv director was played by Dan Walton and The Teachers by Daniel Power as the Headmaster, Dreena Morgan-Harvey as Mrs Lintott, Steve Maddern as Hector and Max Harlow as  Irwin. I did feel sometimes the pace of the play dropped slightly during these scenes with just the staff and felt that there was some uncertainty with lines occasionally.  I liked Dreena’s performance as Mrs Lintott showing her stage experience in a good performance as indeed the only female cast member in a male oriented play. 

The two standout performances for me,  on the evening I watched the play were by Jordan Struel-White as Scripps who had to keep the pace of the show flowing acting as the narrator at times and gave a very good performance as the christian piano playing schoolboy.

Secondly by David Gwentner as Posner playing a young boy struggling with his sexuality both of these actors gave a very good performance.

This is quite a wordy play and as I mentioned earlier I did feel that the pace dropped occasionally at times, however I would like to congratulate Rhys and all the cast on taking on such an iconic play with some issues which could be considered taboo especially in the 80’s and some even today., and handling it really well.

Thank you once again for your warm welcome , and I look forward to joining you again in 2026

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