VOTED the nation’s favourite play, Alan Bennett’s The History Boys begins a new term at the Grand Opera House, York, on June 8 as part of a nationwide tour.

Winner of more than 30 major awards, Bennett’s 2004 play is the story of a group of bright, humorous and unruly sixth-formers in pursuit of sex, sport and an Oxbridge place.

Their maverick English teacher is at odds with the young yet shrewd supply teacher, while their headmaster is obsessed with results and league tables. Staffroom rivalry and the anarchy of adolescence overflow, provoking insistent questions about history and how you teach it. Their A Levels may be over, but their true education is only just beginning.

Bennett’s comic masterpiece topped the voting for the nation’s favourite play in a national survey conducted by English Touring Theatre to celebrate their 21st birthday. Premiered at the National Theatre in 2004, when Nicholas Hytner’s production launched the careers of James Corden and Dominic Cooper, it opened on Broadway in 2006 and a film adaptation featuring the original stage cast followed later that year.

The new touring production for 2015 is presented by Sell A Door Theatre and directed by Kate Saxon, while the cast features Steven Roberts as Posner, Kedar Williams-Stirling as Dakin and Richard Hope as English teacher Hector.

The History Boys will run in York from June 8 to 13 at 7.30pm nightly plus 2.30pm Wednesday and Saturday matinees. Tickets are on sale on 0844 871 3024 or at atgtickets.com/york

• Courtesy of the Grand Opera House, What’s On has three pairs of tickets to be won for the first night, June 8.

Question: Who directed the original production of The History Boys?

• Send your answer, with your name, address and daytime phone number, either on a postcard to Charles Hutchinson, History Boys Competition, The Press, 76-86 Walmgate, York, YO1 9YN, or by emailing charles.hutchinson@nqyne.co.uk, by Thursday morning. Usual competition rules apply.