VOTED the nation’s favourite play, Alan Bennett’s The History Boys will be top of the class again in 2015 when it heads out on a new British tour.

Sell A Door Theatre's production will visit the Grand Opera House, York, from June 8 to 13, preceded by a February 16 to 21 run at Hull New Theatre after winning the national survey conducted by English Touring Theatre to celebrate their 21st birthday.

Winner of more than 30 awards, 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, while the 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 education is only just beginning as they prepare for Oxbridge in Bennett's examination of the true purpose of education.

The History Boys premiered at the National Theatre in 2004, directed by Nicholas Hytner, and helped to launch the careers of many of its original cast members, most notably James Corden and Dominic Cooper. It went on to open on Broadway in 2006 and was turned into a film by Hytner in the same year.

Directed by Kate Saxon, the 2015 cast of sixth-formers comprises Richard Hope as Hector; Kedar Williams-Stirling as Dakin; Steven Roberts as Posner; Mark Field as Irwin; Sid Sagar as Akthar; Matthew Durkan as Crowther; Patrick McNamee as Lockwood; David Young as Rudge; Alex Hope as Scripps and Joshua Mayes Cooper as Timms. Christopher Ettridge plays the Headmaster; Susan Twist, Mrs Lintott; Chris Barritt, the TV Director, and Melody Brown, Fiona.

Kate Saxon has directed such productions as The Real Thing for the West Yorkshire Playhouse; God Of Carnage for the Northampton Royal & Derngate; Persuasion for Salisbury Playhouse and the premiere of The French Lieutenant’s Woman on a British tour. She also directs episodes of EastEnders for BBC1.

David Hutchinson, artistic director of Sell A Door Theatre, says: "We're delighted to be launching our 2015 season with the UK revival tour of the nation’s favourite play by one of Britain’s most cherished playwrights. We pride ourselves on engaging young adults in live theatre, and our partnership with English Touring Theatre subsidising free tickets will allow hundreds of first-time patrons to see this critically acclaimed play.”

English Touring Theatre are giving away 100 pairs of free tickets to The History Boys throughout the tour. Applications are open to anyone who has never attended their local theatre. For more information on how to apply, visit ett.org.uk

Tickets for York are on sale on 0844 871 3024 or at atgtickets.com/york; Hull, 01482 300300 or at hullcc.gov.uk/hullnewtheatre