I spent $400 on One Play and Made 'History'

Guest Blog Post by Rebecca


Picture this: It's 8 a.m. on a cold weekday morning, and I'm huddled against the cold stone of London's entrancing National Theatre.  I stand at the crossroads for my three favorite subjects in the entire universe: Brits, schoolboys and sexual ambiguity. The unequivocal warmth in my soul bubbles through my entire body, keeping me toasty and giddy. 

In total, I saw Alan Bennett's "The History Boys" four times, twice in London and twice in New York.  If you require an explanation as to why, simply lay your eyes upon Dominic Cooper, the finest breed of Englishman.  His tiny frame and charmingly cocky attitude form the basis of the play's appeal to a straight female Anglophile.  I yearn to cradle his tiny body tight against my bosom. 

After viewing this tale of young boys vying for an acceptance into Oxford or Cambridge once, I waited in line on a frosty morning to see it again, in the ten pound cheap seats.  My inexpensive place in the audience turned out to be priceless: first row, and if I hadn't been 100 percent smitten before, it certainly became official.

When the play came to New York, I noticed that Rufus Wainwright, the other love of my life, had attended the premiere in all of his velvet-blazer glory.  I saw it again on preview at the Broadhurst, and for a final time in July. 

The gay aspects of the story are what make it so compelling.  Posner, a young, small Jewish boy from Sheffield, longs for Dakin, Dominic Cooper's character, who receives his jollies by frisking the Headmaster's secretary, Fiona.  All the while Professor Hector (Richard Griffiths of "Withnail and I") offers rides home on his motorbike to the best-looking of his students (Posner excluded).  Hector has a sort of Leonardo da Vinci-apprentice relationship with these boys, i.e. he cradles their genitals as they're riding back home.  Call it a transfer of knowledge.  Irwin, the new teacher in town, is young and hard to crack.  Dakin becomes obsessed with pleasing him, and the sexual tension ensues!

The film is finally out, and I saw it last weekend, bringing my total views of this story up to five.  It's a fabulous adaptation.  See it.  And OH, the soundtrack!  Rufus Wainwright does a spellbinding cover of "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered" which Kenneth Hill informs me is from "Pal Joey," featuring Frank Sinatra and Rita Hayworth.  As Rufus' version sang its way into my heart during the end credits, I knew that immediately upon my return home, I'd lovingly place my playbill underneath my pillow.  And I did.

 

Tags: History Boys, Dominic Cooper, Movies, Theater, Gay