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Beyond the central educational debate, The History Boys explores three further themes that are essential for GCSE: history (what it is and who controls it), sexuality (desire, repression, and identity), and class (social mobility and the barriers to it). These themes are woven into the play's fabric and intersect with each other constantly.
The play is unusual because history is both its subject matter (the boys are studying history) and its method (the play itself is a piece of historical storytelling, looking back on events from the future).
This creates a layered effect:
| Level | What happens |
|---|---|
| Within the play | The boys study history (First World War, Holocaust, etc.) |
| The play itself | The play tells the story of the boys' education — itself a historical narrative |
| Bennett's context | Bennett writes in 2004 about the 1980s, looking back through the lens of the Iraq War |
The play stages an explicit debate about what history is:
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