In The History Boys, teenagers from a working-class background in a formerly prosperous but now rusty town in northern (i.e., nonprosperous) England (think Pittsburgh) are about to take the exam that will determine whether they’ll be admitted to an elite—though not necessarily academically superior—university and all of the social and career opportunities that go with it. The time is the 1980s, when Prime Minister Maggie Thatcher espoused self-improvement and, above all, materialism.

Hector, played by Floyd King in the best performance of his career, is a sixtysomething old-school history teacher who inspires his students with humor, affection, and a love of learning. He’s playful—sometimes too playful. Hector’s nemesis is Irwin (Simon Kendall), a thirtysomething teacher whose background is not what he would like his students to believe. His “teaching to the test”—offensive to Hector—is predictably championed by an egregious, cliché-spouting headmaster (James Slaughter).

That’s just a bare outline of Alan Bennett’s brilliant play, the deserving winner of numerous awards on both sides of the Atlantic. Once a History Boy himself, Bennett is a master of plot, language, and irony. His insights into what happens to 17- and 18-year-olds who are “groomed like thoroughbreds” and “force-fed facts” are reminders of what happens to character and ethos when the pressures of expediency and résumé building take over.

Along with the almost uniformly excellent designers and exuberant cast—including standouts Jay Sullivan as the cocky student Dakin and Owen Scott as a vulnerable fellow student, Posner—director Joy Zinoman has aced the test by delivering a superb production of Bennett’s complex, thought-provoking, and witty text. Note to those who saw the movie version: This is better.