History Boys opening scene analysis

The first scene of the 'History Boys'(play) introduces us to Irwin and as he is the only one in the scene to speak, Bennett is already telling the audience that he will be a major character. It is suggested right of the bat that whilst not only is Irwin an important person in terms of the play but also he is a significant figure in the whole 'History Boys' universe. This is shown as Irwin is seen to be sat level with the Mps he is addressing, this suggests parity between Irwin and the politicians. Furthermore never once do the MPs interrupt Irwin and they seem to pay close attention to him which suggests that the MPs have much respect for Irwin. Irwin however is not presented as a rather nice character instead he is presented as a rather calculating, sinister and slimy person. This is because of the content of what Irwin says, Irwin seems to be conducting the MPs on how to spin what could be a unethical/unpopular policy, he seems to be advocating abolishing trial by jury and the presumption of innocence. He instructs them MPs to "mist up the windows" and confuse the public with paradoxical lines such as "the loss of liberty is the price we pay for freedom," which does to be fair prompt laughter from the audience possibly as they could see this type of speech reflected in their own politicians. The whole scene is fairly boring with not much gong on which I think could represent either peoples views, the reality of education or how boring Irwin's life how now become. Furthermore the lighting resembles a cage round the characters which could represent the education system or methods of teaching, this could be foreshadowing what Irwin rallied against as teacher but has succumb to later in life.