Samuel Barnett: In the 'Boys' Club

British actor Samuel Barnett spent 2 1/2 years shaping and reshaping Posner, his character in Alan Bennett's "The History Boys," from its first staged reading in London to its Tony-winning run on Broadway to its new film version. (See review on Page 24.)

Still in his 20s, Barnett plays the youngest of a group of teenage British schoolboys studying for their entrance exams to Oxford and Cambridge universities. Posner is bright but shy and head-over-heels for his classmate, the charismatic Dakin (Dominic Cooper).

Though Dakin rarely acknowledges him, Posner doesn't hold back from expressing his feelings, at one point serenading Dakin with "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered" while the other boys smile knowingly. It's scenes like that, Barnett admits, that show that the world of "The History Boys" is several steps removed from reality. "We all struggled to kind of get into the world of the film," he says. "In so many ways, it looks like our world. And yet, of course, it's not realistic that a kid would be singing love songs to his classmate." He continues, "We came to realize in rehearsals that, really, Alan [Bennett] is not a naturalistic writer -- he's very stylized. . . . In the world of this play, this film, my character can launch into a love song to his classmate, and nobody bats an eyelid."

As for the singing, Barnett says he had no vocal training, so when he had to sing onstage, "every single night was terrifying. We did the show about 500 times, and it never stopped being terrifying. . . . Singing is just such a naked thing. When you get it wrong, you just get it wrong."

Before shooting began, Barnett says, "we [the cast] had been together for nearly a year and a half, rehearsing and doing the play at the National Theatre in London." The transition to film, however, involved one major change: "The main thing missing, of course, is an audience of 1,000 people," he says. "That's who we were doing it for eight shows a week. Suddenly, all we had was a camera and each other."

Was there any advantage to starting onstage? "All the emotional story was already tucked away inside, and I didn't have to try and portray that. So when I took everything down, the emotional intensity actually came up, which is what, I think, the camera captures."

Audiences will have to judge for themselves. Some critics have lambasted the piece for its ambiguous treatment of Hector, one of the boys' teachers, who has a habit of fondling them on the back of his motorbike.

To attack the play -- or the film -- for its moral ambiguity is to miss the point, Barnett says. "This is not a film about a teacher who gropes his students. That's a strand in the film, but . . . it's not something that Alan wanted to deal with. He says that was just something that seemed to come out of Hector's character."

Essentially, the actor says, "this very brilliant teacher, whose way of teaching is dying out . . . is a very flawed person who struggles -- and has struggled -- with his sexuality all his life, probably." In rehearsals, Barnett says, the cast discussed the issue, realizing that "the way the boys dealt with it isn't realistic. But, again, in this world, the important thing to remember is that these boys are incredibly intellectually and emotionally mature for their age. They are in control. . . . If anything, they see going on the back of the bike as a kind of rite of passage."

As for his future, Barnett's looking to play someone different from Posner. Besides, he says, "I'm starting to look too old to play that part. The blessing of it has been that we could do ['The History Boys'] through many different media, but, creatively, I just want to move on to something else, see what else is out there."

So, he's fine with handing Posner over to another actor?

"No," he says firmly, then starts to laugh. "This is the second major job I've had where I've created the character from the start, and it's difficult to let go of that, it really is. And for that reason, I don't want to see it. I don't want to watch another company do it."