Warning: If youre not British, don't expect to find this play as funny or like it as much as the Brits do. Past the references to Grammar School in the 1980s North (the setting), to the Education System, and to politics, there is, however, a clash of values that anyone can understand and find interesting. It occurs when Headmaster, keen as can be to get his grads into Oxford, hires bright, opportunistic Irwin to coach the boys for the entrance test. He's also to share history classes with Hector, interpreted by Richard Griffiths as a grayed, politically incorrect balloon of a man who lets loose "useless knowledge" behind a locked door. (His pedagogy includes acting out films, unorthodox applications of French, even singing like Gracie Fields in WW II.) The boys might wish Hector more "focused," but they like him, the opposite of how they feel about the calculating Irwin.
In this conflict between liberal and pragmatic views of education, the only woman faculty member gets credit for preparing students with factual knowledge but resents her and other womens historical position as "following men, with a bucket." (None of the males swamps the feminist impression Francis De La Tour makes.)
The crisis, actually gleefully welcomed by Headmaster, comes when motorcyclist Hector, as is his custom, gives one of the boys a ride and is seen fondling him in farewell. Apparently, none of them cared about this practice, but Headmaster insists Hector retire.
Griffiths gets great pathos from Hector's lament: "Why did I piss my life away in this God-forsaken place?" How the boys handle this plus their other ventures in school and on personal (including sexual) levels constitute the plays falling action.
There isn't a hint of pennywhistle emoting among the boys. Standouts, due to their larger importance to the plot, are handsome Dominic Cooper as the sexiest boy and, as gay Posner who loves him, appealing Samuel Barnett.
The production is dressed up with walls descending to make rooms and projections, such as of Hector riding his motorcycle or walking the halls outside his classroom. A bit overdone, perhaps. Obviously the British educational system and society have come a long way since the days of Mr. Chips.
Director Nicholas Hytner has made Alan Bennett's stop on the road vivid and more or less (depending on how close you are to it) entertaining.
