The History Boys at Warwick Arts Centre

For a variety of reasons, we couldn't make it to the Nottingham performances of Bennett's 2004 National Theatre smash-hit. So it was lucky that we had friends who got us tickets for the Warwick Arts Centre performances for the next week on in the tour. It was certainly worthwhile...

So far, The History Boys has taken the London stage by storm, gone down exceptionally well in NYC and with plenty of enthusiastic reviews is taking pretty full houses all round the country in the current tour. A radio broadcast (and CD version) of the play has been done. And the barely altered film version is imminent in the cinema.

So is it any good?

Well, it IS a play of two halves. The first half is so astonishingly good - witty, sharp, moving and bristling with great lines - that it is mostly this brilliance that makes the second half seem so much more pedestrian. Partly, the derives from the apparant need to offer a considerable amount of resolution, but also to drive the plot in melodramatic directions. It is still great entertainment, and head and shoulders above a lot of recent theatre, but the second half just cannot scale the heights achieved by the opening half. The narrative arc (sympathy, revelation, destruction) somewhat undermines the range of ideas and contradictions that make the opening so stunning.

That said, it is both a wonderful play and a wonderful production. Bennett is one of those playwrights who can charm and delight often prissy middle-class audiences into gleeful unblinking delight at his writing, even when it includes some BBC-warning-"VERYstronglanguage"-speeches. (The 60-something gran who swapped seats with her grandson to sit next to us seemed far less put out by the littering of f- and c-words than she was by the nearby braying hooray Henrietta's whooping cheers* for the final applause and bows).

After such an astonishing original cast - Griffiths and De La Tour - casting can prove crucial in convincing an audience. Not only do you have to find some sympathy with the 'fiddling' Hector (ably played by Stephen Moore, a familiar British TV and theatre actor), but you also have to believe in the boys themselves. I never expected anything less than a great performance from Thomas Morrison as Scripps (played with a similar kind of watchful youthful pleasure and anguish as he bought to his role as Danny Holden), but Stephen Webb was just heart-breaking as Posner. Deliciously camp but utterly believable in his behaviour, his doomed adoration of the fey, fickle and self-awaredly 'handsome' Daykin (Ben Barnes) is beautifully conveyed: both were well praised in the review of the Nottingham performances. I would also dare to say that although I have only seen stills from the original cast production, Barnes was a far more 'pretty boy' Daykin than Dominic Cooper, who has far more 'rough edges' in his physical portrayal.

With its eclectic enthusiasm for culture over formal, quantifiably assessable education-as-(one bloody)-qualification (after another), the play taps into all manner of pet hobby-horses for Guardian and Independent readers. However, in placing the flawed, and potentially to some minds dangerous, Hector as our first rock of sympathy and appeal, Bennett challenges us to look beyond simple explanations and definitions. If you haven't seen the play yet, try and do so. If not, get to see the film. But keep an eye out for the progress of the cast of boys: I hope, and trust, they will go on to some great things in the future.



* Seriously, I think she'd been watching some overdose of 1930s cowboy-'n'-injun films, such was the stunning awfulness of her hollering whoops. If she'd have sat next to me, I'd have been tempted to gag her.

Opening Line: 1 October 2006

Zounds! It is October already (mind, given last week I may not last till Christmas - exhaustion already setting in...)

Anyway, new month and here's another line for you.

"Once I lived a life of a millionaire, spending all my money and I didn't care"


Artiste? Song? (The latter may be easier than the former, but kudos if you get the artiste right!)

UPDATE: Congrats to Joe for coming up with a suitable answer!

Opening Line: 30 September 2006

In honour of our trip today:

"Well I don't care about history"



Artiste? Song?


UPDATE: congrats to (new?) visitor Wozza, who has a number of Wozza blogs and spaces. Although I hope he hasn't been tempted into googling....!

Fireplaces installed - awaiting plasterer

This is the new dining room fireplace.



It was previously this monstrosity.



And this is the new front room fireplace (the beloved beast I fell for earlier this year).



Its predecessor was actually doubly hideous: when it came to pulling it down we realised it was essentially brick fascia on board. Grrr.



Now the monsters have gone!

Opening Line: 29 September 2006

"Summer in the city where the air is still, a baby being born to the overkill"


Artiste? Song?

I needed something cheery after the rollercoaster week I have had...

UPDATE: Well done Chrissie!

Helen Lisette's selected film lines

Through thunder and lightening, my good friend HL has had a quick think about the movie lines. There are some here I would expect, and some that make me go "doh! why didn't I remember that?!" I mean, "To Kill a Mockingbird" - classic stuff!

"Stand up Miss Jean-Louise, your father's passin'"
Reverend to Scout in 'To Kill a Mockingbird'. Never fails to make me cry as the whole of the balcony in the courtroom stand to acknowledge Atticus leaving the courthouse.

"I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next".
Maximus to the Emperor in 'Gladiator'. Inevitable choice.

" I've got a bad feeling about this"
Anyone in the Star Wars Sextet. Had to have a 'Star Wars' line.

"I'll have what she's having"
Lady in diner - 'When Harry Met Sally'. The best ad-lib line I have ever heard and perfectly timed: God bless the director's mum!

"Why would you want to go digging any deeper, Lieutenant?"
Jack Vincennes to Ed Exley, 'L A Confidential'. Mr Spacey at his coolest and most sardonic. I love it!

"Lucca Brazzi sleeps with the fishes".
Sonny Corleone, 'The Godfather'.
One of those lines that just needs to be said aloud and can frequently be heard emanating from my office.

"Why Me?"
Bud White to Lynn Bracken, 'L A Confidential'.
I know exactly how she feels!

"Miss Jean-Louise
Finch, may I introduce Mr Arthur Radley. I believe he already knows you."
Scout is introduced to 'Boo' after he has saved her life.

All about Lisa

Ten Top Trivia Tips about Lisa!

1. If your ear itches, this means that someone is talking about Lisa!
2. Most bottles and jars contain at least twenty-five percent recycled Lisa!
3. American Airlines saved forty thousand dollars a year by eliminating Lisa from each salad served in first class.
4. It's bad luck for a flag to touch Lisa!
5. The pharoahs of ancient Egypt wore garments made with thin threads of beaten Lisa!
6. There are roughly 10,000 man-made objects the size of Lisa orbiting the Earth.
7. The first American zoo was built in 1794, and contained only Lisa.
8. All the moons of the Solar System are named after characters from Greek and Roman mythology, except the moons of Uranus, which are named after Lisa!
9. 68 percent of all UFO sightings are by Lisa.
10. The smelly fluid secreted by skunks is colloquially known as Lisa!

I am interested in - do tell me aboutherhimitthem

With thanks to the long line of sharers (George, Rob, Kate etc), I now know more about me than I expected!

The beauty of Stapleford

A good sunset can make almost anywhere look good!

Life is (not) a Cabaret

Fuzzboy does a great number for continuing the tradition of hilarious bad reviews.

Shame poor Anna was poorly, but it seems as if she didn't miss much!!!

October is coming!

Yippee!!!!

With that voice and manner...

... I can even forgive him the facial fluff.

Goddamn he was lovable!

Opening Line: 28 September 2006

"Through the rails, I spied your ponytail; I tried with sugarcubes and they're okay"


Artiste and song please?

There's a subtle reiteration going on with this one so kudos to those who spot how!

UPDATE:Congrats to Chrissie (on both posts!) but hmmm, blogger problems so it WASN'T that I was being that unsubtle with double postings. No, the connection was that I have of course used Prefab Sprout before AND have used another song called "Wild Horses" (the Stone/Sundays)!

Opening Line: 28 September 2006

"Through the rails, I spied your ponytail; I tried with sugarcubes and they're okay"


Artiste and song please?

There's a subtle reiteration going on with this one so kudos to those who spot how!

Opening Line: 27 September 2006 (late)

Sorry!

Busy BUSY day!

"Everybodys got a thing but some dont know how to handle it"


Artiste? Song?


Just what I needed someone to tell me today...

UPDATE: Our lovely struggling-author-with-a-cold got this!

Top class "it-stinks" review

We all know that bad reviews are the best to read or hear: sassy, funny and even if you know you're unlikely to see the item under review, they just a little bit make you want a taste just so you can spit them out in hysterical agreement.

MediumRob turns his glorious sense of humour on Ghost Whisperer.

As a taster, you know it will be a cracker when the first paragraph reads thus:

Well that was painful. I've seen some pretty rubbish shows in my time, but Ghost Whisperer makes Night Man and Viper look like Six Feet Under. It's as though someone thought Charmed was just a little too edgy and a little too simple and they really needed something more complex and more touchy-feely.