The History Boys - ★★★★☆ - An exhibition!

No doubt many of the audience for this anniversary production will be familiar with the original play or its movie transformation, but it's safe to say Sean Linnen's version has made its own top mark.

The pacing is strong, with scenes flowing from one to the other with pacey tunes and schoolkids running around dodging in and out of their teachers as they wheel sofas and the entire set around. The roles are all played incredibly well, Milo Twomey's younger headmaster a cracking addition to every scene and Lewis Cornay playing a Posner at once reminiscent of Samuel Barnett and remaining a new take. Simon Rouse's Hector is a trickier affair - undoubtedly strong, and yet seeming often uncomfortable with his positioning on stage, the nature of a classroom necessitating some odd movements around the stage in an attempt to face both his pupils and his audience.

Speaking of difficult staging, the absolutely gorgeous centre piece of this set is a rotating classroom. Featuring a neat cross section of roof complete with insulation, with each spin we deftly transform from two distinct classrooms and offices. The only downside is something with the weighting or perhaps the distribution of the movers - with every spin the piece drifted stage right, clearer unwieldy, and very nearly taking out chairs and staff as it went.

Lighting for this production had a similar feel to the set - an overhead grid bringing the familiar feel of overhead classroom tubes, with some low side spots and a white backlight for the ethereal funeral. Yet in two scenes we had a strange occurrence in a theatre with working spots as Posner is at once chasing and being chased by a pre-programmed mover acting as a side spotlight. The effect could have been quite neat but was mostly jarring, as the spot pre-empted or Posner moved too soon and far too much time was spent in the dark. Two unfortunate blemishes in a clearly well-choreographed production.

All this said, the performances are a fantastic quality and despite a few flaws the production is incredibly well put together. History Boys is a brilliant play, and this is a brilliant show worthy of the anniversary.