Jerusalem returns to the Apollo Theatre
Preview by Lizzie Guilfoyle
FOLLOWING its Tony Award-winning run on Broadway, Jez Butterworth’s Jerusalem will return to the West End’s Apollo Theatre, where it runs from October 17, 2011 (previews from October 8) to January 14, 2012.
Mark Rylance, who was last seen on the West End stage playing Valere in La Bête, and Mackenzie Crook will once again reprise their roles as Johnny “Rooster” Byron and Ginger.
Both have been with the production since it premiered at the Royal Court in July 2009, Rylance winning Olivier and Tony Awards for his performance.
Joining them will be Max Baker (as Wesley), Alan David (The Professor), Aimeé-Ffion Edwards (Phaedra), Johnny Flynn (Lee), Geraldine Hughes (Dawn), Danny Kirrane (Davey), Charlotte Mills (Tanya), Sarah Moyle (Ms Fawcett) and Harvey Robinson (Mr Parsons).
Jerusalem will offer 20 best price seats at £10 each, which will go on sale from the Box Office, in person only, from 10am on the day of each performance.
Yes, Prime Minister continues at the Apollo Theatre until September 17, 2011.
Previously Posted: Mark Rylance and Mackenzie Crook will lead the cast in the West End transfer of Jez Butterworth’s Jerusalem, which runs for a strictly limited 12 week season at the Apollo Theatre – from February 10 (previews from January 28) to April 24, 2010.
Jerusalem, which received its world premiere at the Royal Court Theatre in July, is described as a comic, contemporary vision of life in our green and pleasant land.
On St George’s Day, the morning of the local county fair, Johnny Byron (Rylance), local waster and modern day Pied Piper, is a wanted man. The council officials want to serve him an eviction notice, his children want their dad to take them to the fair, Troy Whitworth wants to give him a serious kicking and a motley crew of mates want his ample supply of drugs and alcohol.
Ian Rickson will direct the West End cast which also includes Jessica Barden, Tom Brooke, Greg Burridge, Lewis Coppen, Alan David, Aimeé-Ffion Edwards, Lenny Harvey, Gerard Horan, Danny Kirrane, Charlotte Mills, Lucy Montgomery, Sarah Moyle, Dan Poole, Harvey Robinson and Barry Sloane.
Mark Rylance is an acclaimed Shakespearean actor and as such, has won numerous awards including the Oliver Award for Best Actor for Much Ado about Nothing. Until 2005, he was artistic director of Shakespeare’s Globe where his many acting credits include Henry V, Twelfth Night and Hamlet. In 2007, he starred alongside Roger Allam and Frances de la Tour in Boeing-Boeing at the Comedy Theatre, subsequently reprising the role on Broadway, where he won the 2008 Tony Award for Best Actor.
Rylance, who of course played Johnny Byron in the Royal Court’s sell-out production of Jerusalem, will shortly apear as Hamm in Samuel Beckett’s Endgame which begins preview performances at the Duchess Theatre on October 2, 2009.
Read more
Although Mackenzie Crook is probably best known for his roles in the Pirates of the Caribbean films and television’s The Office, he has appeared on stage in The Seagull (Royal Court Theatre); One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (Gielgud Theatre), opposite Christian Slater and Frances Barber; and The Exonerated (Riverside Studios).
His other screen credits include Brothers Grimm, Finding Neverland, The Life and Death of Peter Sellers, City of Ember, and the yet to be released Sex, Drugs and Rock ‘n’ Roll and The Adventures of Tin Tin (film); Merlin, Skins, Little Dorritt and Demons (TV).
Ian Rickson has previously directed Jez Butterworth’s The Winterling, The Night Heron and Mojo (all at the Royal Court) and most recently, Parlour Song (Almeida Theatre).
From 1998 – 2006, he was Artistic Director of the Royal Court Theatre where his credits include Krapp’s Last Tape, Fallout, The Weir which transferred to the West End and Broadway, Mojo which also transferred to the West End and then New York, and the critically acclaimed production of The Seagull which was transferred to Broadway by Sonia Friedman Productions.
His other work includes The Hothouse and The Day I Stood Still, both for the National Theatre. And earlier this year, his production of Hedda Gabler, starring Mary Louise Parker, opened on Broadway.
Mojo was Jez Butterworth‘s first play. It opened at the Royal Court in 1995 and subsequently won five drama awards including the Evening Standard and Critics’ Circle Awards for Most Promising Playwright and the Olivier Award for Best Comedy.
His films include Mojo, starring Harold Pinter, and Birthday Girl, starring Nicole Kidman, both of which were shown at the Venice Film Festival; as well as the forthcoming Fair Game with Sean Penn and Naomi Watts.
Produced in the West End by Sonia Friedman Productions and Royal Court Theatre Productions, Jerusalem is designed by Ultz, with lighting by Mimi Jordan Sherin, sound by Ian Dickinson and music by Stephen Warbeck.