The History Boys

The Pittsburgh Irish and Classical Theatre (PICT) is offering a totally engaging and fluid production of The History Boys (to 8/22), a recent Tony and Olivier Award winning play by Alan Bennett. Under the direction of maestro Andrew Paul this show has Wellesian proportions, with the feel of a revue wrapped around a big provocative play, skillfully weaving sketches, songs and dances, and continuous comedy, which is smoothly transitioned, at short episodic intervals, into set pieces of utter seriousness. Clocking in at close to three hours, the show flies by. An excellent ensemble of young actors playing the school boys are matched with veteran performers.

Like courtroom dramas and competitions (sports, music, games) there is endless audience appeal for the type of human contest which pits individuals up against the system, whose latest manifestation seems to be reality TV. The History Boys is a version of this with a down-at-the-heels state school in Northern England hoping to stake its claim to glory by having a handful of students gain admission to the most exclusive of English schools, Oxford and Cambridge.

The piece will remind you a little of Mr. Bennett's Talking Heads with its well-drawn characters, who are presented with a certain pathos and dignity; flawed, Everyman and Everywoman, each given voice. An ironic work, Mr. Bennett's The History Boys is a highly literate text which plays as well as it reads. PICT has provided an extensive glossary, a list of the character references in the play, and a translation of a skit performed in French. Take a look at the notes before or after you see or read the play, and maybe do both!

On the surface this is a play about two forms of education, one taught by a benevolent if eccentric teacher concentrating on a student-centered curriculum of values, the other given by an opportunistic, results-oriented rogue, teaching to the test. And it is about those supporting characters that lay the foundations of a discipline on the way up and those who embellish and benefit from it on the way out.

Hector (Bernard Cuffling) uses the subjective medium of poetry with its timeless values which are exclusive, private, secretive, and personal, teaching the students how to deal with major life issues: love, death, grief. He fills up teachable moments with paradigm stories and vignettes to emphasize his points. While his course is defined as General Studies, his take-home message to the boys is highly specific: if you know one thing well, you're better positioned than the individual who knows only one thing about a thousand others.

Irwin (Sam Redford) on the other hand teaches history (re: journalism), which is objective, public, relativistic, revisionist, and seeks to stand facts on their heads, looking for the sexy or unusual angle in a position to catch the interviewer's attention. It is completely valid in the sense that you can arrive at truth by way of dispassion and distance, when you step outside of cultural context. What is left unsaid often informs what is trumpeted about. He favors the What If branch of historical analysis, alternative courses that events might have taken had certain historical occurrence not taken place, and his chief adherent seems to be Dakin (Dave Doxler), the fair-haired boy who is always on the make regardless of age or gender (but not disability).

At a deeper level the character and motivations as well as the assessment of techniques is blurred. Hector (Bernard Cuffling) has a propensity for fondling his charges and his standoffish, if not subversive approach to dealing with any organization seems to provide little guidance for his students to make their way in the world. His most apparent disciple, Posner (John Wascavage), doesn't fare well in the long run, though as a gay and Jewish student, he has two strikes against him in this closed society. Irwin. by contrast, offers a crash course on real-life critical thinking, asking his students to question all assumptions, and seek originality at all costs. You want to stand out, not fade away (!). While he shares Hector's sexual orientation, he draws the line much farther out, and much deeper in the sand, over what is permissible between a teacher and student. There are similarities as well: both characters are emotionally distant and both are motivated by their self-interest, one to be remembered by the old boys, the other to go as far as his technique will take him. Each will get their apotheosis, though in ways not planned for.

Mr. Cuffling gives his Hector a theatrical flourish, endowing him with a completely endearing mischievousness, in an outstanding performance. His Hector may provoke exasperation, but never alienation. Mr. Redfield's Irwin is a tougher character to warm to, a cipher on an emotional level. As we will find out he's hidden a thing or two about his past. His message, though not ready to be heard by everyone, will prevail, but the messenger, well, we know what they do with those guys. There will be a reversal at the end of the play that will be called an accident, but I'll leave it to the theatergoer to determine if it's of an actual or historical nature.

Mrs. Lintott (Linda Kimbrough) runs interference between Hector and the Headmaster (Martin Giles) who has his eyes on both the prize and the bottom line. Mrs. Kimbrough portrays a character who's heard it all from her male counterparts, and probably from her ex; she's got some choice tongue-lashing lines over gender bias which she delivers to a flinching and contrite group. Mr. Giles unleashes a blustery performance as the Headmaster-cum-efficiency expert who seems anxious to usher in the new order which his internal clock must have told him is just about ready to arrive.

Mr. Paul elicits remarkable performances from the tight ensemble cast playing the students. Whether they are challenging their teachers, pantomiming the scenes from movies and history, or plotting their numerous strategies, the lines are crisp and their movements economical. Of particular note were the characterizations of Dakin (Dave Doxler), Rudge (Jarid Faubel), Scripps (Andy Lutz), and Timms (Cory O'Connor). Mr. Doxler as the school's cock of the walk can say it all with his assertive demeanor and facial expressions while Mr. Rudge is completely convincing as a lower-class boy who knows one thing well - himself - and makes the most of it. Mr. Lutz, as his aptly named character, gets it all down and over to us, effectively accompanying the storyline whether from the front of the stage or at the keyboard. And Mr. O'Connor playing the class clown turns every innocent question into a verbal thrust when he isn't, to humorous effect, cavorting in character or in drag. Eric Berryman, Ethan Saks, Arya Shahi, and John Wescavage (in fine voice) round out this cohesive unit. Bravo!

Throughout the play a cultural soup of poetic quotations, film moments, and musical lyrics are served up by the characters, coming across like sound bites in multitudes, the cumulative effect being hilarious. You'll start to wonder if the speech acts that John Searle and other philosophers of language wrote about are true, that language really speaks man and not vice versa. Are all those quotes, facts, and figures defining me? Who is the I that speaks? C'est un paradoxe!

A nondescript functional set by Gianni Downs with one drop-down, and two large wraparound stationary blackboards, displaying posters of literary greats - props by Cory Goddard - along with upright piano, exemplify the mood of living in and celebrating the past. Brown, green, and navy blue costumes by Pei-Chi Su nicely blend with an overall battleship gray and muted color palette. Sound designer Elizabeth Atkinson put up a nice 80s playlist to accompany the overhead audio-visuals by Jessi Sedon which serves to fill in the offset action, comment on the performance, and divert the viewer from the mechanics of scene changes. Lighting by Jim French was effective in bringing forth the various narrators during the play, isolating the actors during the closing, and covering the cavernous space to good effect. Natalie Baker Shirer has done an exemplary job as the dialect coach.

In the end the students will be educated, by different means, at different times by different parties - by the school and each other. How much, if any, is responsible for the final product is unclear, a situation that remains arguably true to this day.

Sound check: Moderate sound levels at scene changes

Program notes: Generally excellent, with materials to clarify the references and idiomatic expressions. Could have benefited from inclusion of director's notes

Applause meter: Highly recommended, standing "O," 4 hands

Runtime: About 2 hours and 45 minutes with an intermission

Photo credits: Suellen Fitzsimmons