Heidelberg Theatre Company THE HISTORY BOYS HEIDELBERG THEATRE COMPANY (HTC) BOOKINGS 03 9457 4117 ENQUIRIES 03 9455 3039 EMAIL [email protected] WEB www.htc.org.au HTC is a member of the Victorian Drama League. HTC acknowledges financial assistance from the City of Banyule.

HTC Artspace Exhibition Leanne Cole

Our featured artist this month is Leanne Cole, our curator. Leanne has displayed her artwork in this space many times over the years that she has been involved in the theatre. Much of her work has been displayed on the stage in various plays.

For this show she is giving you a chance to view some of her new work. A series of Lino Cut Prints that she has done from the imagery she gets from cycling.

Leanne works as a cycling photographer and often uses the images she gets to inspire her artwork.

011 bill 2 Play ... HTC ome hcock to c Hitc ows Alfred Sh & r chan ctobe Bu arlow - 1 O ohn k B mber by J tric epte PS y Pa 15 S TE ted b 9 S adap r * as 3 irecto hom er THE s d an T cemb phen Dyl 3 De n Ste by ber - Justi OOD ovem * LKW 17 N MI r * DER irecto UN en d y Gre * Sand About the author

Alan Bennett Alan Bennett was born in 1934 in Leeds, West Yorkshire. For his secondary education, he attended Leeds Modern School, a grammar school for boys similar to the one portrayed in ‘The History Boys’. While serving his National Service, he studied Russian at the Joint Services School for Linguists. He was offered a place at Cambridge, but he’d already spent some time at Cambridge during his National Service, and decided instead to apply for a scholarship at Oxford. He attended Exeter College and earned a first-class degree in history. Despite his academic achievements, Bennett found that the scholarly life did not suit him. At the 1960 Edinburgh Festival, he co-wrote and performed ‘Beyond the Fringe’ with fellow artists Peter Cook, Dudley Moore and Jonathan Miller, a show which achieved great success and critical acclaim. For the next few years he enjoyed a successful acting career, particularly in comedy. Bennett's first play, ‘Forty Years On’, was produced in 1968 and achieved immediate success. Bennett went on to write well-received works in television, film, and theatre. Bennett other plays include ‘Habeas Corpus’ (HTC 1984), ‘The Lady in the Van (HTC 2007) and ‘The Madness of King George III’ for which, like ‘The History Boys’ he also wrote the screenplay. About the play The History Boys premiered at the National Theatre’s Lyttelton Theatre in London in May 2004 and played to sold-out audiences for an extended run. It toured to Hong Kong, New Zealand and Sydney, Australia in 2006. The play premiered on Broadway in April 2006. The play has received more than 30 major awards, including Britain’s Olivier award for Best New Play in 2005 and six Tony Awards, including Best Play in 2006. About the director ‘The History Boys’ is the ninth production directed by Bruce Bruce Akers for HTC - the others being ‘The Judas Kiss’, ‘Angels in America: Millennium Approaches’; ‘Side Man’; ‘Sylvia’; ‘A Perfect Ganesh’; ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’; ‘The Accrington Pals’ and ‘Translations’. Since ‘Angels in America’ in 2008, Bruce has appeared onstage at Heidelberg and Malvern Theatre in such productions as ‘Cloudstreet’; ‘Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead’ and ‘The Elephant Man’. He first joined HTC in 1983 with ‘The Lion in Winter’ and has appeared in such landmark HTC productions as ‘The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby’; ‘Amadeus’; ‘Hobson’s Choice’; and ‘Hurlyburly’. His favourite role remains Angus in Williamstown Little Theatre’s production of ‘The Drawer Boy’ directed by Chris Baldock. Cast

Hector - Peter Maver

Irwin - Tim Constantine

Dorothy Lintott - Juliet Hayday

Headmaster - Paul Kennedy

Akhtar - James Acok

Crowther - Ryan Purdey

Dakin - James Plunkett

Lockwood - Alex Goldsworthy

Posner - Tim Driver

Rudge - Joshua Kerr

Scripps - Samuel Chappel

Timms - Brian Farrell

There will be a 15 minute interval between Act 1 and 2 during which refreshments will be available in the foyer.

To assist those with hearing difficulties, a hearing loop is installed in the theatre—seats 1 to 10 in all rows. HTC gratefully acknowledges a City of Banyule grant for this service. Production Team

DIRECTOR Bruce Akers

PRODUCTION COORDINATION Wendy Drowley

STAGE MANAGER Emma Hunt

ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER Siobhan Earley

SET DESIGN David Dare

LIGHTING DESIGN Deryk Hartwick

LIGHTING OPERATION Maureen White, Jessi Wilcox, John Rowe, Raymond Martini

SOUND DESIGN Neil Williamson

SOUND OPERATION Margaret Hassall, Bruce Akers

WARDROBE Wendy Drowley, Lois Connor, Dianne Brennan

PROPERTIES Bronwyn Parker

PHOTOGRAPHY Patricia Tyler

POSTER DESIGN James Hutson

PROGRAMME Chris McLean

PUBLICITY HTC Publicity Committee

BOX OFFICE June Cherrey, Toni Tyers

FRONT OF HOUSE Patricia Tyler & HTC members

SET CONSTRUCTION David Dare Owen Evans, Doug McNaughton, Dennis Pain, Paddy Moriarty, Des Harris, Neville Wilkie, Jim Thomson & HTC Members

Acknowledgements

FOR THEIR VALUABLE CONTRIBUTION TO THIS PRODUCTION THE COMPANY WISHES TO THANK: CATHERINE VÊQUE, CHERINE PECK, STUDIO 1 PERFORMING ARTS, DOROTHY CONNORS, NORTH BALWYN HIGH SCHOOL, OUR LADY OF MERCY COLLEGE, HEIDELBERG Peter Maver PETER MAVER (Douglas Hector) Peter has performed in more than seventy plays and musicals with several of Melbourne’s leading theatre companies. His favourite roles include Henry Higgins in ‘My Fair Lady’, C S Lewis in ‘Shadowlands’, Harry in ‘The Sum Of Us’, George in ‘Same Time Next Year’, Bill in ‘Gulls’, Arnold in ‘Torch Song Trilogy’ (VDL Best Actor Award), Roy in ‘Cosi’ and Thomas More in ‘A Man for All Seasons’. Television acting credits include appearances in ‘Halifax FP’, ‘Blue Heelers’, ‘Neighbours’, ‘Stingers’, ‘State Coroner’ and ‘Hawke’.

JULIET HAYDAY (Dorothy Lintott) Juliet’s last roles at

Juliet Hayday HTC include a geriatric rabbi, a Mormon mother and Ethel Rosenberg in ‘Angels in America: Millennium Approaches’ (2008) and Ma Joad in the ‘The Grapes of Wrath’ (2007). She has worked extensively throughout the Melbourne amateur theatre community and favourite roles include Beatrix in ‘Life After George’, ‘B’ in ‘Three Tall Women’, Sister Aloysius in ‘Doubt’, Margrethe in ‘Copenhagen’, the cancer-ridden poetry professor, Vivian Bearing in ‘Wit’ and this year Judith Bliss in Encore’s ‘Hay Fever’. Juliet is the recipient of numerous VDL, Lyrebird and in-house nominations and awards for both acting and costume design.

Tim Constantine TIM CONSTANTINE (Irwin) Tim is pleased to be returning to the Heidelberg stage. Previous roles he has played at HTC include Lord Alfred Douglas in ‘The Judas Kiss’ (2010), Quick Lamb in ‘Cloudstreet’ (2009) and Louis Ironson in ‘Angels in America: Millennium Approaches’ (2008). Tim won the VDL Award for Best Lead Actor in a Comedy for the role of Rosencrantz in HTC’s ‘Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead’ (2009). Working with such enthusiastic and vibrant young actors in ‘The History Boys’ makes him feel very old indeed. If you see him in the foyer please give him a cup of cocoa and place a blanket over his knees. Paul Kennedy PAUL KENNEDY (Headmaster, Felix Armstrong) A seasoned performer, Paul appeared at HTC as Mick Dowd in ‘A Skull in Connermara’ (2009) and Roy Cohn in ‘Angels In America: Millennium Approaches’ (2008). Paul has studied with the National Theatre, VCA, and the Globe Theatre (UK). His many credits transverse straight theatre, musicals, film and television and he has won many acting awards. Paul’s other appearances include ‘Torch Song Trilogy’, ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’, ‘The Elephant Man’, ‘The Crucible’, ‘Les Miserables’, ‘La Cage aux Folles’, ‘Cabaret’, ‘City Homicide’, ‘Stingers’, and ‘Kath & Kim’.

Tim Driver TIM DRIVER (Posner) Tim is a recent arrival from Brisbane. His recent awards include those for Best Comedy and Best Production in the Brisbane Short and Sweet Festival of 2010. It is also reliably reported that Tim also appears regularly on stage as a cabaret performer in North Melbourne—though Tim may deny this if questioned directly on the matter.

James Plunkett JAMES PLUNKETT (Dakin) This is James’ first time working with Heidelberg Theatre Company. Developing a strong love for acting in 2008, he has had a major focus on training, completing numerous short courses on acting, voice, and movement with the VCA and the Zen Zen Zo physical theatre company. James’ previous acting roles include; Florindo in ‘The Servant of Two Masters’, Sam in ‘The Family Way’, Uncle in ‘Seven Jewish Children’, and Levars In ‘Ghetto’.

Joshua Kerr JOSHUA KERR (Rudge) This is Josh’s on-stage debut with Heidelberg Theatre Company, after lighting the previous two productions. Josh first stage role was in ’The Crucible’ (2007). Since then he has been hooked, enjoying playing Darcy in ‘Pride & Prejudice’ and Romeo in ‘Romeo & Juliet’. Last year James took out a Victorian Musical Guild award for his role of Gaston in ‘Beauty and the Beast’. Recent theatre pursuits include participation in MTC’s Your Scholarship course. Josh is “having a blast” playing Rudge in this fun and entertaining production.

BRIAN FARRELL (Timms) Brian is from Ireland and Brian Farrell Brian moved to Melbourne 3 years ago. He has studied Acting in Ireland, New Zealand and here in Melbourne. This is Brian's 2nd performance at Heidelberg, and where he again works with Paul Kennedy, with whom he appeared in ‘A Skull in Connemara’ in 2009. Brian's recent acting work includes a T.A.C TVC & Medibank TVC shot here plus a Sony TVC in Auckland. Last year he played the role of ‘Rudge’ in the Strathmore production of ‘The History Boys’. This performance he plays ‘Timms’ and he is delighted to work with Bruce Akers who has assembled an excellent cast for this production.

Alex Goldsworthy ALEX GOLDSWORTHY (Lockwood) Alex is currently studying Secondary Teaching (Arts) at Deakin University with majors in Performing Arts and Literature with a minor in Linguistics. He has had experience with many theatre groups among them: Zen Zen Zo, Launchpad Drama, CPCA (VYT) and has also done workshops at NIDA. This year he has appeared in Malvern Theatre Company’s ‘Six Degrees of Separation’. His greatest success to date was his admission into Top Class after scoring full marks on his VCE Drama solo last year and performing at The Melbourne Recital Centre.

Ryan Purdey RYAN PURDEY (Crowther) Ryan is an aspiring writer and actor based in Rosanna. ‘The History Boys’ marks Ryan's first play after supporting roles in local productions of ‘Oliver!’ and ‘The Hot Mikado’ - both musicals. Ryan has enjoyed working with the cast and crew at HTC, and he hopes that one day a play of his own will be playing on the same stage. Currently, Ryan is studying Professional and Creative Writing at Deakin University, and is using that experience to inform his scriptwriting. Ryan hopes you enjoy 'The History Boys' as much as he has.

Samuel Chappel SAMUEL CHAPPEL (Scripps) This is Sam’s second show for HTC, having played a bell-hop many years ago in ‘Born Yesterday’. Samuel first trod the boards in grade 5, playing Charlie in ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’, and he's been hooked ever since. Since then he’s appeared in various school musicals as well as productions with Strathmore Theatrical Arts Group, The Hartwell Players and Eltham Little Theatre. Favourite Productions including ‘Beauty and the Beast’, ‘Les Miserables’, ‘Hamlet’ and ‘Richard the Third’. Sam is very excited to be playing Scripps in such an amazing production.

James Akok JAMES AKOK (Akhtar) James, born and raised in Melbourne, has recently completed acting courses at Brave Studios and Peter Sardi's School Of Acting. Performing in ‘Corazón de ajolote’ (Piece of heart) at the VCA late last year further infused James with a strong appreciation for the theatre world. Currently he is studying at The Melbourne Actors’ Lab under Peter Kalos. James’ other interests include music, martial arts, art, writing, basketball and dancing. James is thrilled to be playing Akthar in this production, enjoying working with actors of different backgrounds, and together, making a great dynamic. THE HISTORY BOYS Heidelberg Theatre Company ♦ Season 2011 ♦ Play 3