'The History Boys' Begins Previews For Limited Engagement On

By: Oct. 17, 2005
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The National Theatre of Great Britain's production of Alan Bennett's THE HISTORY BOYS, will open on Sunday, April 23, 2006 on Broadway at the Broadhurst Theatre (235 West 44th Street) with the National's Acting Company for a 20-week limited engagement. Previews will begin on Thursday, April 14, 2006.

THE HISTORY BOYS originally opened on May 18, 2004, at the National, where it quickly became a sell-out smash hit. The play, directed by the National's artistic director Nicholas Hytner, won the Evening Standard, Olivier and London Critics' Circle Awards as Best Play.

An unruly bunch of bright, funny sixth-form boys in pursuit of sex, sport and a place at university. A maverick English teacher at odds with the young and shrewd supply teacher. A headmaster obsessed with results and a history teacher who thinks he's a fool. Alan Bennett's THE HISTORY BOYS is about staffroom rivalry, the anarchy of adolescence and the purpose of education.

THE HISTORY BOYS features scenic and costume design by Bob Crowley, lighting by Mark Henderson, sound design by Colin Pink, music by Richard Sisson and video direction by Ben Taylor. Nicholas Hytner's direction will be recreated by Simon Cox.

In its three theatres on the south bank of the Thames in London, The National Theatre of Great Britain presents an eclectic mix of new plays and classics, with seven or eight productions in repertory at any one time. It aims constantly to re-energize the great traditions of the British stage and to expand the horizons of audiences and artists alike. The most recent work from the NT seen in New York was Jumpers, Democracy, The Pillowman and Primo.

THE HISTORY BOYS will be produced by Boyett/Ostar Productions and The National Theatre of Great Britain.

Ticket information will be announced in coming weeks. Sign up at www.historyboysonbroadway.com for more information.

BIOGRAPHIES

Alan Bennett (Playwright) first appeared on stage in 1960 with Peter Cook, Dudley Moore and Jonathan Miller in the revue Beyond the Fringe. His stage plays are Forty Years On, Habeas Corpus, The Old Country, Getting On, Enjoy, Kafka's Dick, An Englishman Abroad and A Question of Attribution (1988, staged together at the National as Single Spies, with Bennett directing the former and appearing in both), an adaptation of Kenneth Grahame's The Wind in the Willows (NT 1990, 1991, 1993 and 1994), The Madness of King George III (NT 1991 & 1992, also touring America, Greece and Israel), The Lady in the Van, and several of the monologues from the Talking Heads collection: A Chip in the Sugar, A Lady of Letters and A Woman of No Importance (which he also directed and appeared in, winning the Laurence Olivier Award for Outstanding Entertainment and Most Outstanding Performance in a Musical or Entertainment), Bed Among the Lentils and Soldiering On (which he also directed). His work for television includes "A Day Out," "Sunset Across the Bay," "A Visit from Miss Prothero," "Me! I'm Afraid of Virginia Woolf," "Doris and Doreen," "The Old Crowd," "Afternoon Off," "One Fine Day," "All Day on the Sands," "Intensive Care" (in which he played the leading role), "Our Winnie," "Marks," "Rolling Home," "Say Something Happened," "A Woman of No Importance," "An Englishman Abroad," "The Insurance Man," "102 Boulevard Haussmann" and two collections of Talking Heads monologues, the second of which won the South Bank Show Award for Best Drama. Films include A Private Function, Prick Up Your Ears, The Madness of King George (nominated for two Oscars. Writing Home, his collection of prose writing, was published by Faber in 1994.

Nicholas Hytner (Director) is Director of The National Theatre. His first theatre productions were at the Northcott Theatre, Exeter. He then directed a series of productions at Leeds Playhouse, and in 1985 became an Associate Director of the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester. His productions included As You Like It, Edward II, Don Carlos, The Country Wife and Mumbo Jumbo. He has directed three productions for the Royal Shakespeare Company: Measure for Measure, The Tempest and King Lear. From 1990 to 1997, he was an Associate Director of The National Theatre, directing Ghetto, The Wind in the Willows, The Madness of King George III, The Recruiting Officer, Carousel and The Cripple of Inishmaan, and then more recently, The Winter's Tale, Mother Clap's Molly House, and, as director of the National, Henry V and His Dark Materials. Other London work includes Miss Saigon, The Importance of Being Earnest, Cressida and The Lady in the Van in the West End, Volpone at the Almeida, and Orpheus Descending at the Donmar. His productions in New York include Carousel and Twelfth Night at Lincoln Center Theater and Sweet Smell of Success on Broadway. Opera includes The Turn of the Screw, The Marriage of Figaro and King Priam (Kent Opera), Rienzi, Xerxes, The Magic Flute and The Force of Destiny (ENO), La Clemenza Di Tito for Glyndesbourne, Giulio Cesare for the Paris Opera, The Cunning Little Vixen for the Theatre du Chatelet, Paris, Le Nozze Di Figaro for the Geneva Opera and Don Giovanni for the Bavarian State Opera, Munich. He was Visiting Professor of Theatre at Oxford in 2000. Films: The Madness of King George, The Crucible and The Object of My Affection.

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