Mark Gatiss stars in this strictly limited West End transfer of the first major revival of this iconic play in two decades. Razor sharp and packed with wit, The Boys in the Band is fresh, startling and brilliantly entertaining.
There’s a party tonight. It’s 1968 and nine men gather in a New York apartment
for a birthday celebration. Harold (Mark Gatiss) receives a surprise gift from
his friend, Emory (James Holmes), in the form of a beautiful male hustler.
Meanwhile, party host Michael (Ian Hallard) gets an unwanted surprise of his
own. As the booze is drunk and the dope smoked, the mood swings from hilarity to
heartbreak.
Please note: The play is set at a gay house party
and includes sexual references ….oh, and a topless cowboy!
From the producers of the acclaimed productions of
Beautiful Thing, Our Boys and Another Country, this eagerly anticipated revival
stars:
Cast
Mark Gattis - Harold
Mark Gatiss is an actor, writer and producer. He first found success with The League of Gentlemen, with whom he won the Perrier award at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 1997, and went on to enjoy a radio series and three television series on the BBC, and a big screen outing in 2005. A lifelong fan of Doctor Who, he has written eight episodes since its return to TV in 2005, and has appeared in the show twice. Other notable TV performances include Nighty Night, Mapp and Lucia, London Spy, Game of Thrones, Coalition, Wolf Hall and Sense and Sensibility. Film appearances include Dad’s Army, Our Kind of Traitor, Bright Young Things, Victor Frankenstein and Starter for Ten. He is perhaps best known as the executive producer and writer of the award-winning global phenomenon Sherlock, alongside his friend and colleague Steven Moffat, in which he also plays the role of the detective’s older brother Mycroft Holmes. His theatre work includes the role of Menenius in Coriolanus (Donmar Warehouse) for which he was nominated for an Olivier award for Best Supporting Actor, Agrado in All About My Mother (Old Vic), Bernard in Season’s Greetings (National Theatre), Charles I in 55 Days (Hampstead), Captain Brazen in The Recruiting Office and Stephen Crosswell in The Vote (both Donmar Warehouse), and most recently Dr Shpigelsky in Three Days in the Country (National Theatre), which saw him awarded Best Supporting Actor at this year’s Olivier Awards
Daniel Boys - Donald
Television and Film include: Holby City (BBC Television), Fall Out
(Crowded Pictures) and Little Man (Peccadillo Pictures).
West End and London credits include: Potts in Miss Atomic Bomb (St
James Theatre), Sir Lancelot in Spamalot (Playhouse), Captain Walker in Tommy
(Prince Edward), Princeton/Rod in Avenue Q (Gielgud / Noel Coward – Winner of
the 2009 Theatregoers Choice Award for Best Takeover in a Role), Roger in Grease
(Victoria Palace), Mark in RENT (Prince of Wales & National Tour), Anthony in
Sweeney Todd (Royal Festival Hall), Jason in Ordinary Days (Trafalgar Studios)
and Christian in Wolfboy (Trafalgar Studios).
Other theatre credits include: Seymour in Little Shop of Horrors
(Theatre Clwyd); Oliver Barrett IV in Love Story (Bolton Octagon), Colin in The
Opinion Makers (Mercury Colchester and Derby Playhouse); Mike Connor in High
Society (National Tour); Algernon in The Importance of Being Earnest (Theatre
Royal, Windsor); the title role in Peter Pan (Mayflower Theatre, Southampton and
Grand Canal Theatre, Dublin); Judas in the 40th Anniversary concert of Godspell
(Palace Theatre, Manchester); Mark in RENT (European Tour); Morino in Sunset
Boulevard (National Tour); Tony in West Side Story (European Tour) and The War
Of The Worlds (National Tour).
Workshops include: The Painted Lady (Bristol Old Vic) and The
Trouble With Doug (Northampton Royal & Derngate)
Jack Derges - Cowboy
Television credits include:
EastEnders (BBC), Humans (Channel 4 & AMC), Episodes (BBC & Showtime), Crims
(BBC), The Royals (E!), Cucumber (Channel 4), Holby City (BBC), WPC 56 (BBC),
Switch (ITV), Casualty (BBC), Skins (E4).
Film credits include:
AUX (Revolutionary Films), Freak of Nurture (Ratio Films), Dungeons and Dragons
– The Book of Vile Darkness (Warner/Silver Pictures).
Theatre credits include:
The Sweethearts (Finborough Theatre).
Ian Hallard - Michael
Ian Hallard trained at Mountview.
Theatre credits include: Alan Turing in Lovesong of the Electric
Bear (Hope Theatre & subsequently the Arts Theatre), Cat On A Hot Tin Roof (Theatr
Clwyd), Great Britain (National Theatre & Theatre Royal Haymarket), King Lear
(Cockpit), Scenes from an Execution (National Theatre), A Midsummer Night’s
Dream (Southwark Playhouse), Lilies (Greenwich), The Importance of Being Earnest
(Jermyn Street), The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe (West Yorkshire
Playhouse), The Tempest (Wimbledon), Alcina (Festival d’Aix en Provence), Seven
Brides for Seven Brothers (Battersea Arts Centre), Trial By Jury (Covent Garden
Festival) and UK tours of Donkey’s Years and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour
Dreamcoat.
Television appearances include: Doctor Who, Poirot, Where The
Heart Is, Doctors, Sherlock, Crooked House, Ideal, Hustle, Marple and The Worst
Journey in the World.
He has also worked as a script associate on two episodes of Poirot and
co-wrote a third The Big Four with Mark Gatiss.
James Holmes - Emory
Theatre credits include:
The Merry Wives of Windsor, The Wind In The Willows and Romeo and Juliet
(Chester Performs), Portia Coughlan (The Old Red Lion), Rain Man (English
Theatre Frankfurt), Flint Street Nativity, The Lady in the Van and Happy Now
(Hull Truck), The Dumb Waiter (Derby Live), Catherine Tate (Soho Theatre),
Loaded (Pleasance Theatre, Edinburgh) and the original production of Anorak of
Fire (Arts Theatre, Edinburgh Assembly Rooms & National Tour).
Television credits include: Sherlock, Miranda, Psychoville, How TV Ruined
Your Life, The Last Enemy, The Catherine Tate Show and Love Soup (BBC), I Live
With Models (Comedy Central), Phoneshop and TV Go Home (C4).
Film credits include: Lava, Death Defying Acts
John Hopkins - Alan
Theatre credits include: title role in Ben Hur (Tricycle Theatre),
Richard the Lionheart in Holy Warriors (The Globe), Elyot in Private Lives
(Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh), Tim in Candide, Penitent Brothel in A Mad World My
Masters, Saturninus in Titus Andronicus, Narrator in Venus and Adonis, Caesar in
Antony and Cleopatra, Sebastian in The Tempest, Claudio in Much Ado About
Nothing, Dolabella in Antony and Cleopatra, Dauphin in King John, Octavius in
Julius Caesar and Servant in Love in a Wood (All RSC), Kochkaryov in Marriage
(Belgrade Theatre), title role in Ben Hur (Watermill Theatre), Dickinson in
Ross, Nicolai Legat/Baron de Gunzburg/Dr Frenkel in Rattigan’s Nijinsky, Freddie
Page in The Deep Blue Sea (Chichester Festival Theatre), Nick in Who’s Afraid of
Virginia Woolf? (Sheffield Crucible), Edward in The Good Soldier (Theatre Royal
Bath), Richard Hannay in The 39 Steps (Criterion Theatre), Angelo in Measure for
Measure, Trigorin in The Seagull and title role in Hamlet (The Factory),
Harcourt in The Country Wife (Theatre Royal Haymarket), Eli in Screams from Job
(Southwark Playhouse), Man inSamuel Beckett's Play (BAC).
Television credits include: The Lodge, Stan Lee's Lucky Man,
Doctors, Catastrophe, Dancing on the Edge, Hacks, Secret Diary of a Call Girl,
Merlin, Identity, The Bill, Hotel Babylon, Mutual Friends, Wire in the Blood,
Robin Hood, Tripping Over, The Path to 9/11, Midsomer Murders (two series as DS
Scott), Trial and Retribution, Spooks, Nicholas Nickleby, Love in a Cold
Climate.
Films include: The Face of an Angel, Alice in Wonderland, The
Experiment, The Swimming Pool.
Radio credits include: Dead Girls Tell No Tales, Regime Change.
Video game credits include: Ryse: Son of Rome, Assassin's Creed,
Tom Clancy's The Division, Hitman, Horizon Zero Dawn
John trained at RADA.
When: Saturday 18th February 2017, 3:00pm
Price: £37.50 (Stalls)
Where: Vaudeville Theatre, Strand, London, United Kingdom, WC2R 0NH
If you'd like to see the show, please let me know by Monday 5th December.
Click here to e-mail me or text me on the usual number.
Please note: The cast may change at short notice due to illness or unforeseen circumstances.