The Stage

History Boys finds wider audience through BBC Radio 3 adaptation

Published Tuesday 19 April 2005 at 14:05 by Liz Thomas

EXCLUSIVE: Alan Bennett’s critically acclaimed play The History Boys is to be adapted for Radio 3 as part of a move by the station to give listeners across the country access to more West End theatre.

The show was a sell-out success at the National Theatre’s Lyttelton venue. At this year’s Olivier Awards it picked up Best New Play and saw Richard Griffiths and Nicholas Hytner collect accolades for Best Actor and Best Director.

The adaptation, which will be overseen by Bennett, is to be directed by Richard Wortley with David Hunter as executive producer and is expected to air in January next year.

Abigail Appleton, head of speech programmes for the station, said: “It is still very early in development but it is very exciting. This is a real opportunity for us to bring listeners across the UK works that are performed mainly in major city centres such as London and Edinburgh. For a lot of people a trip to the capital to see a West End show requires a lot of organisation, time and money.”

As part of the initiative Radio 3 has also commissioned David Eldridge and Rufus Norris to adapt their award-winning play Festen for broadcast. Originally an internationally successful film, the hit show was staged first at the Almeida last year before transferring to the Lyric for its current run. The adaptation will be performed by the West End cast later this month.

In May the station will also transmit an adaptation of Michael Grandage’s staging of Friedrich Schiller’s Don Carlos, currently on at the Gielgud. Although Grandage co-directed the radio version with the BBC’s Andy Jordan, it was made by the independent Ladbroke Radio Production.