Premiered at the National Theatre and winner of both the Olivier and Tony Awards for Best Play, Alan Bennett’s The History Boys confronts issues of education, sexuality, and peer pressure through a group of boys preparing for their Oxbridge exams.

Written specifically for Key Stage 4 students, this GCSE Student Guide offers a critical commentary on the text through an overview of the play and extensive analysis of themes, characters, contexts, dramatic technique, critical reception and related works. In addition, there is a section on how to write about the play, a glossary of dramatic terms and new interviews with Alan Bennett and the play's original director, Sir Nicholas Hytner.

Throughout the guide are suggestions for activities and exercises pitched at the GSCE student, making this an indispensable resource for anyone studying the play at this level.

Steve Nicholson is the Chair in 20th-Century and Contemporary Theatre in the School of English at the University of Sheffield, where he lectures and teaches on courses in both English and Theatre. He has written and published extensively on relationships between theatre and society, as well as on the work of individual playwrights, approaching them equally from literary, historical and performance perspectives.