Stephen Fry's play Latin, or, Tobacco and Boys also has the audience as the schoolboys and the actors as teachers, doesn't it? And covers not dissimilar topics. I wonder if it was an inspiration on The History Boys.

That sort of thing does work much better in the theatre, it's true. It's one of the tragedies of even a great filmed Shakespeare that they can never quite manage the moments where it's important for the audience and actors to be in the same physical space.

Hope tonight goes well, incidentally; I am sufficiently ill that even if I managed to drag myself out, I would only lower the tone.