THE MUSICAL PRODUCED

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THE PLAY PRODUCED

It is a truth universally acknowledged that an amateur dramatic society must be in need of a quantity of young male players. So why on earth was the company I belong to even considering including Alan Bennett’s incredibly successful play The History Boys as part of our repertoire?

My company is the RSC – no, not that one; the other one – Redbridge Stage Company which stages three or four plays each year at the Kenneth More Theatre in Ilford, Essex. Finances are tight and choices have to be made with an eye to the box office but as often as possible we like to risk something more adventurous that will prove a real challenge.

THE PLAYSet in a boy’s grammar school in the 1980s The History Boys follows the progress of a group of students as they

are prepared for Oxbridge entrance guided by three teachers with totally contrasting teaching styles.

CASTINGCasting the staff was not a problem as two of our company are or were experienced teachers in the real world. One of them had run a Sixth Form, taught English and had the physical makings of a Richard Griffiths in embryo so no problem there. But where would we find eight suitably talented young actors to play the students? Nobody in our own company fitted the bill so we spent a hair raising few weeks advertising on our website (www.redbridgestage.co.uk), scouring other local companies and chatting up any likely looking candidates we happened to bump into. Eventually we had enough young actors to hold an audition which we disguised as a read through to make it less nerve wracking.

With fingers crossed we watched them file in.

Apart from acting ability it was important to get the balance right physically. Too much disparity in size would spoil the illusion that they were all of an age; they weren’t – they ranged from sixteen to twenty seven. It was also important that they would gel as a group so we could believe that they had known each other for years and just as importantly they had to come across as exceptionally bright, forever quoting literary texts and discussing philosophers. Fortunately they were all these things and more. An added bonus was that one of them was a talented pianist. There are moments in the play where the boys act out scenes from old films with piano accompaniment and the facility to do this live made an enormous difference.

THE HISTORY BOYSFollowing an internationally acclaimed tour and a hit film adaptation, Alan Bennett’s The History Boys has recently been released to amateurs. Christine Keates talks about her recent production for Redbridge Stage Company.

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THE PLAY PRODUCED

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REHEARSALSRehearsals were a breath of fresh air and we soon realised that we had the makings of a hit on our hands. The ability of the our newcomers to be inventive, take direction well and throw themselves into things with wild abandon was a real tonic and it soon became evident that our ex teachers were falling back into type. I do have to confess that some liberties were taken with the script as the running time was likely to be too long for our (mostly) aging audience who like to be out by 10.15 pm. It is very easy to cut a badly written play but enormously difficult to do so when the calibre of the writing is so high. Nevertheless it needed to be done and at the same time some of the strong language had to be expunged – much to the disappointment of our young cast! One concession we did make to ease the process was to drop the original northern accents and transpose the play to our local area (references to Sheffield became Shenfield). This meant that there was one less potentially distracting

element for all to worry about.

COSTUMESSchool uniforms proved an interesting challenge. We opted for white shirts, gray trousers and navy blue blazers in the hope that at least some of our young men would still have their own from their school days. Though some did, some didn’t and of those that had there had been obvious growth spurts leading to large expanses of forearm on show. We didn’t want to borrow from a local school in case of potential embarrassment and charity shops proved a poor source in this instance. The National Theatre’s original costumes were available but well out of our budget range. The gaps were finally plugged when the mother of one of the “boys” who worked in a school in far away Wiltshire was able to help out. The disparate school badges were covered with one designed by an artistic company member and eight striped ties, courtesy of an M & S sale, completed the ensemble.

THE SETThe set happily proved less of a headache. The episodic nature of the play (plus the usual financial constraints) called for as simple a set as possible. Most of the action takes place in a classroom so this was set up centre stage with typical classroom furniture. Two large wooden boards on castors were covered with collages of all the poets, film stars, historical figures, etc. mentioned in the play and this formed a colourful and easily moved backdrop. A wood panelled flat ran across the back of the stage to give the impression of the school hall for the final memorial scene. The Head’s study and the staffroom were set up on either side of the stage in front of the proscenium arch and decorated with appropriate artefacts (trophies, school photos, timetables) to indicate which was which. For the outdoor scene at the monastery a gauze was flown in front of the classroom with a suitable gobo for effect. This worked well as it left the front of the stage uncluttered

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THE PLAY PRODUCED

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enough for the actor in a wheelchair to manoeuvre himself about with aplomb.

To show the passage of time and highlight important offstage action we used stills and video projected onto a screen suspended above the classroom. Thus we were able to see Hector and pupil Scripps on a motor bike. However this had to be stationary as our Hector did not feel competent enough to go roaring off into the distance (and he wasn’t insured!) As a complete technophobe this aspect terrified me. Everything was loaded into an appropriately programmed laptop and the theatre stuff set up the links for us. It was extra added headache for our stage manager and board operator who had limited

rehearsal time actually at the theatre to cope with it all. But cope with it they did even when assorted error messages suddenly manifested themselves on screen – fortunately this was at the dress rehearsal.

I suppose one of the disadvantages of tackling such a well known piece is its familiarity and availability as a film. Would an audience turn out when they could sit comfortably at home watching on their TV? The answer was a resounding yes. We played to some of the best houses we’d had for a long time, actually made a profit and most encouraging of all attracted a higher proportion of young people in.Finally a few words from our Hector

who realised a long held ambition in this production: “Seldom have rehearsals and a show been such a refreshing treat. I’m sure The History Boys will go down as one of THE plays of the early 21st century and it was a privilege to be involved in one of the few amateur productions that have been staged. Also I don’t suppose I’ll ever have another opportunity to learn and play a whole ten minute scene in French (please God!). Hector encourages his students to stretch their minds and abilities and that was what was so great about being involved in this production. As he says at the end of the pay ‘Pass it on!’ ”

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