ONE of Britain’s greatest playwrights, Sir Alan Bennett, visited Bath Theatre Royal and gave his seal of approval to the final rehearsals of the 20th anniversary production of his multi-award-winning play, The History Boys, ahead of the opening night on Thursday 22nd August.

The play and later film, which together launched the careers of several actors, including James Corden, Russell Tovey and Dominic Cooper, is regarded as a modern classic. This new production is directed by Sean Linnen, with a cast including Simon Rouse, Gillian Bevan, Milo Twomey and Bill Milner.

The play opens on A-Level results day at Cutler’s Grammar School in 1980s Sheffield. Eight unruly teenagers burst into adulthood with the best grades their school has ever seen and their sights set on something higher: to study at the most famous academic institutions in the world – Oxford and Cambridge. But their teachers can’t agree on how best to tutor them. There’s Hector, the maverick English teacher who believes in culture for its own sake, Irwin, the shrewd supply teacher full of soundbites, Felix, the headmaster obsessed with league tables, and Mrs Lintott, the history teacher who thinks her colleagues are all fools.

Winner of 30 major awards and voted The Nation’s Favourite Play in 2013, The History Boys follows a bright bunch of boys in pursuit of sex, sport and a place at university, lifting the lid on staffroom rivalries and the anarchy of adolescence.

Simon Rouse, who plays Hector, is best-known on television as DCI Jack Meadows in more than 800 episodes of ITV’s The Bill. His West End credits include Noises Off, The Dresser, When We Are Married, The Changing Room and Sweet Bird of Youth. Gillian Bevan, who plays Mrs Lintott, performed at the Theatre Royal in 2022 in Terry Gilliam and Leah Hausman’s spectacular staging of Stephen Sondheim’s Into The Woods. Gillian won the Olivier Audience Award for her role as Mrs Wilkinson in Billy Elliot in the West End. Milo Twomey, who plays the headmaster, played Mr Banks in Cameron Mackintosh’s Mary Poppins and Alec in Kneehigh’s Olivier and Tony-Award nominated production of Brief Encounter.

The students are played by Tashinga Bepete as Crowther, Archie Christoph-Allen as Dakin, Lewis Cornay as Posner, Ned Costello as Rudge, Teddy Hinde, who grew up in Somerset, as Timms, Curtis Kemlo as Lockwood, Mahesh Parmar as Akthar, and Yazdan Qafouri as Scripps.

The 2024 tour of The History Boys, produced by Theatre Royal Bath Productions, is in Bath until 31st August, followed by a national tour visiting Truro, Nottingham, Plymouth, Cheltenham, Cambridge, Coventry, Malvern, Aberdeen and Richmond.

Alan Bennett has been a household name in British theatre for more than 50 years. He has received numerous awards for his work including two BAFTA Awards, four Olivier Awards and two Tony Awards. His vast output includes the popular Talking Heads series, the brilliant drama The Madness of George III, which was made into a double BAFTA Award-winning and Oscar nominated film, The Lady in the Van, Single Spies, Forty Years On, Habeas Corpus.The Habit of Art, People and 2018’s Allelujah!, which opened at London’s Bridge Theatre and was adapted into a film starring Jennifer Saunders, Judi Dench, Derek Jacobi and Russell Tovey.

Pictured: Playwright Sir Alan Bennett visits Bath Theatre Royal to watch a rehearsal of The History Boys; group photograph by Hugo Glendinning; rehearsal photographs by Marc Brenner.