Prick Up Your Ears is a 1987 film, directed by Stephen Frears

Stephen Frears

Stephen Arthur Frears is an English film director.-Early life:Frears was born in Leicester, England to Ruth M., a social worker, and Dr Russell E. Frears, a general practitioner and accountant. He did not find out that his mother was Jewish until he was in his late 20s...

, about the playwright Joe Orton

Joe Orton

John Kingsley Orton was an English playwright.In a short but prolific career lasting from 1964 until his death, he shocked, outraged and amused audiences with his scandalous black comedies...

 and his lover Kenneth Halliwell

Kenneth Halliwell

Kenneth Halliwell was a British actor and writer. He was the mentor, boyfriend and eventual murderer of playwright Joe Orton.- Childhood :...

. The screenplay was written by Alan Bennett

Alan Bennett

Alan Bennett is a British playwright, screenwriter, actor and author. Born in Leeds, he attended Oxford University where he studied history and performed with The Oxford Revue. He stayed to teach and research mediaeval history at the university for several years...

, based on the book by John Lahr

John Lahr

John Lahr is an American theater critic, and the son of actor Bert Lahr. Since 1992, he has been the senior drama critic at The New Yorker magazine.-Biography:...

. The film stars Gary Oldman

Gary Oldman

Gary Leonard Oldman is an English actor, voice actor, filmmaker and musician.A member of the 1980s Brit Pack, Oldman came to prominence via starring roles in British films Meantime , Sid and Nancy and Prick Up Your Ears , with his performance in the latter bringing him his first BAFTA Award...

 as Orton, Alfred Molina

Alfred Molina

Alfred Molina is a British-born American actor. He first came to public attention in the UK for his supporting role in the 1987 film Prick Up Your Ears...

 as Halliwell, Wallace Shawn

Wallace Shawn

Wallace Michael Shawn , sometimes credited as Wally Shawn, is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, author, voice artist, and intellectual. His best-known film roles include Wally Shawn in My Dinner with Andre , Vizzini in The Princess Bride , and debate teacher Mr...

 as Lahr and Vanessa Redgrave

Vanessa Redgrave

Vanessa Redgrave, CBE is an English actress of stage, screen and television, as well as a political activist.She rose to prominence in 1961 playing Rosalind in As You Like It with the Royal Shakespeare Company and has since made more than 35 appearances on London's West End and Broadway, winning...

 as Margaret "Peggy" Ramsay

Peggy Ramsay

Margaret Francesca Ramsay was a British theatrical agent. Ramsay was raised in South Africa, but during a brief and unhappy marriage came to England in 1929; her husband Norman Ramsay was under investigation in South Africa...

.
The film tells the story of Orton and Halliwell in flashback, framed by sequences of Lahr researching the book upon which the film is based with Orton's literary agent, Peggy Ramsay.