Rylance and Crook also starred in the original sell-out season of Jerusalem at the Royal Court Theatre in July 2009. The production will play a 12-week run to April 24 at the Apollo Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue.
Jerusalem won both the Evening Standard and Critics' Circle Theatre Awards for Best New Play, and Mark Rylance won both awards as well for Best Actor.
Jersusalem is described as "a comic, contemporary vision of life in our green and pleasant land" and is set on St. George's Day on the morning of a local county fair. Johnny Byron, 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.
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The production is directed by Ian Rickson, with designs by Ultz, lighting by Mimi Jordan Sherin, sound by Ian Dickinson and music by Stephen Warbeck. Jerusalem is produced in the West End by Sonia Friedman Productions and Royal Court Theatre Productions. Also in the cast are 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. Rylance, previously artistic director of Shakespeare's Globe from 1995 to 2005 where his roles included the title role in Richard II and Olivia in an all-male production of Twelfth Night (winning the Olivier for Best Actor), won last year's Tony Award for reprising his West End performance in Boeing-Boeing on Broadway. He has also won a BAFTA for "The Government Inspector" and an Olivier for playing Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing at the Queen's Theatre. He has appeared in the films "The Other Boleyn Girl," "Intimacy," "Prospero's Books" and "The Grass Arena" (Radio Times Award for Best newcomer).
Crook made his debut at the Royal Court in 2007 in Ian Rickson's production of The Seagull, subsequently transferring to Broadway's Walter Kerr Theatre. His other stage work includes One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest (West End) and The Exonerated (Riverside Studios), while his screen work includes three "Pirates of the Caribbean" films, "The Office" (BBC TV) and "Little Dorrit" (BBC TV). He is currently filming "The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn" (directed by Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson).
Horan was previously seen at the Royal Court in A Miracle and The Weir. His extensive TV and film credits include appearances in "The Singing Detective," "London's Burning," Lovejoy," "Heartbeat," "Harbour Lights," "Dalziel and Pascoe," "The Bill," "Casualty," "Doctor Who," "Lark Rise to Candelford" and "Kingdom."
Butterworth's previous plays at the Royal Court include The Winterling, The Night Heron and Mojo. His most recent play Parlour Song was originally seen at New York's Atlantic Theater Company and was staged this year in a different production at London's Almeida. In 2007 he received the E.M Forster award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. In 2008 he wrote and produced "Fair Game."
Rickson's previous productions for the Royal Court include The Seagull, Krapp's Last Tape, The Winterling, Alice Trilogy, The Sweetest Swing In Baseball, Fallout, The Night Heron, Boy Gets Girl, Mouth to Mouth (also West End), Dublin Carol, The Weir (also West End and Broadway), The Lights, Pale Horse, Mojo and Some Voices. Since leaving the Royal Court, he has directed Parlour Song (Almeida), The Hothouse (National Theatre) and screen adaptations of "Fallout" and "Krapp's Last Tape."
To book tickets, contact the box office at 0844 412 4658 or visit www.jerusalemtheplay.com.
