Making the Boys

The documentary tells the story of a stage play. The play is The Boys in the Band. It was staged at the end of the sixties. It was among the first works to put gay characters at the centre and reach a wide audience. Before long it was adapted for the screen. All of this came before Stonewall and before the pride marches. The AIDS epidemic had not begun either. The play caused a great deal of argument at the time. Some saw it as a door being opened. Others found the unhappiness of its characters too much. The documentary listens to both sides. Its writer, its actors and its director speak. Other figures from the stage and the screen give their views. William Friedkin and Mart Crowley appear in the ninety minute documentary, along with Larry Kramer and Edward Albee, an American production Crayton Robey finished in 2011.