The History Boys - Dramatic Structure

Bennett shows a flexible use of time within the play; this is shown in Irwins opening monologue when we are introduced to a man “in a wheelchair, in his forties” however throughout most of the play he is “twenty-five” and able to walk. This playful use of time has been to set up an enigma because we do not find out the circumstances, as to why he’s in a wheelchair, until the closing of the play. Bennett uses the flash-forward technique during Hectors eccentric lessons, where Timms steps outside of the time frame and says “The hitting never hurt. It was a joke. None of us cared. We lapped it up” the sudden switch may prompt the audience to wonder if Timms is addressing them directly from the future, in which he is looking back at the events of his past. Later in the play another flash-forward technique occurs however five years into the future. Five years later Irwin is once again in his wheelchair, which tells us his accident will occur soon, and Irwin meets one of the students but this time he is identified as a ‘man’. The label ‘man’ from ‘boy’ expresses the passing of time. The man Irwin meets is Posner, one of the most fragile of the boys, who is now in therapy and clinging onto his past. The fast-forward technique increases the sense of urgency and inevitability. The main goal of the play is that the boys successfully enter Oxbridge, and this does happen however the fast-forward shows the future disappointment for both Irwin and Posner and it changes the perception of the play.

Irwin’s fate is foreshadowed throughout the play and the fate of Hector comes as a tragic surprise, soon after the boys’ success Hector is killed in a motorcycle accident that paralyses Irwin. Scripps’ narration of the accident is followed by a presentation of Hector’s funeral, which Mrs Lintott steps out of the time frame and states “they became solicitors, chartered accountants, teachers even…”. Scripps and Mrs Lintott are perfect to take the role of narration because they are both outsiders. Mrs Lintott is an outsider, due to her separation from the male environment and Scripps is an outsider through his psychological nature as an observer. They are characters, whose position of outsiders has given them a deeper perception of time and its patterns.

Bennett’s most common use of intertextuality in the play occurs in the recital of poetry, mostly by Hector or by the boys he has taught. He chooses his intertextuality references carefully, using words from the past to illuminate the present concerns of the characters. Thomas Hardy’s “Drummer Hodge” is used to symbolise the connection between Hector and Posner. He used the poem characters ‘Drummer Hodge and Hardy’ to link to the characters in the play ‘Hector and Posner’ both characters are unified through words and themes.

The boys show their skills at recital and effectiveness as a group by reading the poem, we are seeing a play from the early 21^st century, set in the 1980s, using a poem from the 60s to describe 1914. These layers of time moving forward from the past demonstrates one the central message:  that we can learn from times beyond our own lives through the literature left scattered through the decades and centuries, in what Hector describes as a game of 'pass it on'. The intertextual references continue throughout the play, reflecting and commenting on the characters and events. Historical references move from world war 1 in act 1 through to world war 2 in act 2, this reflects the darker tone of the play. Humour is used to counterpoint these uncomfortable discussions, such as the boys’ comedic emulation of the film Brief Encounter, a story of an extra-marital affair, this links to the physical relationship between Hector and his boys and also Irwin and Dakin. This 1980s setting comments on the role of sexuality and sin in education. Bennett has not only portrayed the interchange of the boys’ transition from school to university but also the past and the future of their lives.