In September 2013 English Touring Theatre announced the launch of My Favourite Play, a nationwide campaign and public vote to find the UK’s favourite play. This was the first survey of its kind to ask theatre fans their favourite play, and now the results have come in…

The nation’s favourite top ten plays are:

1. The History Boys by Alan Bennett
2. Noises Off by Michael Frayn
3. Hamlet by William Shakespeare
4. Arcadia by Tom Stoppard
5. The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde
6. Jerusalem by Jez Butterworth
7. An Inspector Calls by J B Priestley
8. Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare
9. Macbeth by William Shakespeare
10. King Lear by William Shakespeare

The range of plays voted for were immense, from medieval to modern and from established classics to brand new titles. A total of over 1,400 different plays were in the running across the entire survey.
Voters were also asked whereabouts in the country they were from in order to establish different trends and patterns in people’s theatre taste across the country. The most voted-for plays in each region were:

• East of England – The History Boys by Alan Bennett
• London & The South East – Jerusalem by Jez Butterworth
• The Midlands – The History Boys by Alan Bennett
• North East – The History Boys by Alan Bennett
• North West – The History Boys by Alan Bennett
• South West – Hamlet by William Shakespeare
• Scotland – An Inspector Calls by J B Priestley
• Wales – Arcadia by Tom Stoppard
• Northern Ireland – Hamlet by William Shakespeare

To celebrate English Touring Theatre’s 21st Birthday in 2015, a selection of favourites will be performed across the country. Although many plans are just being finalised, the Grand Theatre, Blackpool is pleased to announce that the nation’s favourite play – The History Boys – will bring its 2015 tour with Sell a Door Theatre Company to our very own Matcham stage!

Even better news – to celebrate the nation’s love of theatre and the 2015 tour of our favourite play, English Touring Theatre will also be giving away 200 tickets to The History Boys throughout the tour to first-time theatregoers!

Alan Bennett’s comic masterpiece The History Boys will run at Blackpool Grand from Tuesday 14 to Saturday 18 April 2015. Winner of over 30 major awards including the Olivier and Tony Awards for Best New Play, The History Boys is the story of a group of bright, funny and unruly sixth-formers in pursuit of sex, sport and a place at university. Their maverick English teacher is at odds with the young and shrewd supply teacher, whilst 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. Widely hailed as on of the greatest theatrical events of the last decade, The History Boys is a hilariously funny and exceptionally moving play about the true purpose of education.

The History Boys, Tuesday 14 to Saturday 18 April 2015, Blackpool Grand Theatre

For more information visit www.blackpoolgrand.co.uk/shows/performance/history-boys-the