# Wish me luck as you wave me goodbye, not a tear but a cheer...

You should treat us with more respect. We're scholarship candidates now. We're all going

in for Oxford and Cambridge, sir.

Wash me in steep-down gulfs of liquid fire. I thought all that silliness was finished with.

# Singing

# Singing

And the beauty of it is, the metaphor really fits. I mean, just as moving up to the front-line

troops presumably had to pass the sites of previous battles where every inch of territory had

been hotly contested. So it is with me, like particularly Fiona's tits which only fell

after a prolonged campaign some three weeks ago and to which I now have immediate access,

and which were indeed the start line for last night's abortive thrust southwards.

The History Boys is a play for everyone who remembers their teenage angst. It's an intriguing

and discomforting look at education. It's packed with ambition, desire and determination.

They're a likely lot, the boys. All keen, all bright but they need polish. Edge. Your job.

I want to get us up there with Manchester Grammar, Haberdashers'

Aske's. Leighton Park. Or is that an open prison?

We follow a group of teenage boys, being taught to play the system in order to get into Oxford

and Cambridge. As you'd expect from Alan Bennett, the whole thing is incredibly witty.

Durham was very good for history, it's where I had my first pizza. Other things too, of

course, but it's the pizza that stands out.

It's also fantastically accessible, and a great introduction to live theatre.

You don't always understand poetry? Timms, I NEVER understand poetry. But learn it now,

know it now, and you'll understand it whenever. Grief, happiness, even when you're dying.

Poetry is the trailer, 'forthcoming attractions!'

It's a very very clever play.

With respect, can I stop you? No, with any poem or work of art we can never say 'in other words'

Yes, sir. That's why it is a work of art in the first place. You can't look at a Rembrandt

and say 'in other words', can you sir?

We're well into rehearsals now. There's lots of laughter, and a genuine buzz about this

production. I hope you can join us for what promises to be a fantastic summer night out

at the Mercury Theatre.

History is a commentary on the various and continuing incapabilities of men. What is

history? History is women following behind with the bucket.