Launching the Donmar's season of American plays, Jesus Hopped The A Train opens on March 13.

Written by Stephen Adly Guirgis, Jesus Hopped The A Train is directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman and concerns an impressionable young inmate awaiting trial for murder. He strikes up a friendship with a fellow convict whose pride and religious zeal defies the bars that holds him prisoner.

Hoffman's involvement in the play, as director, is a major draw for the Donmar, and reflects Sam Mendes' interest in, and ability to, attract Hollywood big-hitters to his Covent Garden playhouse.

Hoffman has been a striking character actor in a wide range of films, including Boogie Nights, the film which cemented Mark Wahlberg's reputation as a serious actor, and Flawless, in which he played a drag queen who lives next door to Robert De Niro.

His presence as director of a play, which deals with some seriously harsh scenes of New York low life, has already excited considerable attention.

—By Paul Webb at Theatrenow