As
previously reported,
The History Boys is now confirmed for a West End run. Alan Bennett’s play, directed by Nicholas Hytner, will begin performances at the Wyndham’s Theatre on 21 December and officially open on 3 January. It will play for a 17-week run.
The play, which won the Laurence Olivier, Evening Standard and Critics’ Circle Awards for Best New Play in London and the Tony Award for Best New Play on Broadway, now finally comes to the West End following its current, second U.K. national tour, that still has dates to play at Bradford’s Alhambra Theatre (3-7 October), Hull’s New Theatre (10-14 October), Edinburgh’s King’s Theatre (17-21 October), Aberdeen’s His Majesty’s (24-28 October), Belfast’s Grand Opera House (31 October-4 November), Llandudno’s North Wales Theatre (7-11 November), Cardiff’s New Theatre (14-18 November) and Salford’s The Lowry (21-25 November).
The touring cast will bring the show to the West End, led by Stephen Moore as Hector, Isla Blair as Mrs. Lintott, William Chubb as the Headmaster and Orlando Wells as Irwin.
Alan Bennett
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Moore’s most recent theatre credits include playing Colonel Pickering in the U.K. tour of Trevor Nunn’s National Theatre production of My Fair Lady (that he also played at Drury Lane in 2003), playing Senor Allones in Steven Knight’s The President of an Empty Room at the National’s Cottesloe in 2005, and playing the father Helge in Festen in the West End transfer. A veteran of the National Theatre, he is also known for providing the voice of Mavin the Paranoid Android in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Blair’s TV credits include appearances in The Saint, The Avengers, Department S, Jason King, Dixon of Dock Green, When the Boat Comes In, Space 1999, Blake's 7, Doctor Who, C.A.T.S. Eyes, Inspector Morse, Taggart, The Darling Buds of May, The Final Cut, A Touch of Frost, The Bill, Dalziel and Pascoe, Holby City and Midsomer Murders. Her extensive theatrical CV includes recent stints at the the National Theatre in Stuff Happens and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. Chubb’s credits for the National Theatre include Bennett’s The Madness of George III and Tom Stoppard’s Invention of Love. He has alos appeared extensively with the RSC and in the West End, where he was most recently seen in the Peter Hall production of Hay Fever that starred Judi Dench. Wells has appeared in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Othello and Antony and Cleopatra for the RSC as well as Henry IV at the Donmar Warehouse.
The boys will be played by Ben Barnes (Dakin), Philip Correia (Rudge), Thomas Morrison (Scripps), Steven Webb (Posner), with Owain Arthur, Marc Elliott, Akemnji Ndifornyen and David Poynor. The cast also includes Ben Allen, Tina Gray, Derek Howard, Duncan Patrick and Stephen Uppal.
The announcement comes just as director Hytner’s screen version of The History Boys receives its Royal Premiere at the Odeon Leicester Square on 2 October prior to a theatrical release on 13 October. The original cast ended their award-winning run on Broadway on 1 October.
The West End run is produced by the National Theatre itself in partnership with National Angels Ltd., an Enterprise Investment Scheme company set up by a group of the National’s loyal supporters that is intended to give the theatre a bigger share of commercial profits when they are available.
A Voyage Round My Father, the Wyndham's current tenant, is scheduled to end its limited engagement on 16 December.