The History Boys to return to the West End with director Nicholas Hytner

Alan Bennett’s The History Boys is to return to London’s West End for the first time in two decades, bringing its debate about the purpose of education back to the stage under original director Nicholas Hytner.

The play premiered at the National Theatre in 2004 before transferring to the West End and Broadway. It won three Olivier awards and six Tonys, and Hytner also directed its 2006 film adaptation.

What is education for?

Set in 1980s Sheffield, the play follows eight boys at a grammar school preparing for university entrance exams. Two teachers take opposing approaches: learning as a route to achievement, or learning as something worth pursuing for its own sake. The story also explores adolescence and sexuality.

Hytner told the Guardian that these questions felt especially relevant to current debate about schooling. He described music and drama teaching in state schools as being in an “almost terminal decline” and said history and modern languages had been downgraded. He argued that neglecting the humanities had harmed both pupils and the economy’s future.

Original creative team, new young cast

Original designer Bob Crowley will reunite with Hytner, and Bennett will take part in developing the production. Hytner said the staging would change, as it had during its original run, but any changes would involve Bennett.

I welcome its return under Nicholas Hytner.

Hytner plans to cast actors at the start of their careers and said he could almost guarantee that none would be well-known figures. The Guardian’s October 22 report gives an April 10 opening at the Theatre Royal Haymarket for a 16-week run.