The History Boys
Summer 2007 Summer Films series
Sunday, July 22, 2007 at 8:00pm
Acadia Cinema's Al Whittle Theatre
450 Main Street, Wolfville, NS
Directed by Nicholas Hytner
Starring Frances De La Tour, Stephen Campbell Moore, James Corden, Richard Griffiths, Clive Merrison, Adrian Scarborough, Russell Tovey, and Penelope Wilton
Rated 14A ·
1h 52m
United Kingdom
English
The History Boys tells the story of an unruly class of bright, funny history students in pursuit of an undergraduate place at Oxford or Cambridge. Bounced between their maverick English master (Richard Griffiths, Withnail & I), a young and shrewd teacher hired to up their test scores (Stephen Campbell Moore, Amazing Grace), a grossly out-numbered history teacher (Frances de la Tour, The Cherry Orchard), and a headmaster obsessed with results (Clive Merrison, Saving Grace), the boys attempt to sift through it all to pass the daunting university admissions process. Their journey becomes as much about how education works, as it is about where education leads.
The big screen adaptation of the five time Tony award-winning play of the same name, The History Boys utilizes the same talent that originally brought the production to the stage. It is directed by Nicholas Hytner from a script adapted for the screen by the playwright Alan Bennett. The stage version premiered to the world in London’s prestigious National Theatre in 2004, winning audience and critical acclaim alike including Laurence Olivier Awards for Best New Play, Best Director (Nicholas Hytner) and Best Actor (Richard Griffiths), as well as Evening Standard and Critics Circle Awards for Best Play.