At a boys' grammar school in Sheffield, eight boys are being coached for the Oxbridge entrance exams. It is the mid-eighties, and the main concern of the unruly bunch of bright teenagers is getting out, starting university - and starting life.

At the heart of The History Boys are four characters, each with contrasting outlooks on teaching and school: Hector, an eccentric English teacher with no interest in exams; Irwin, a young teacher who sees history as "entertainment"; Mrs Lintott, a traditionalist, who teaches "history, not histrionics"; and a Headmaster obsessed with results.

Described as "the richest play Bennett has ever written" (Financial Times), staff-room rivalry and the anarchy of adolescence collide in an intensely moving and thought-provoking play.