JERUSALEM & Mark Rylance Heading Back to the UK This Fall

JERUSALEM, a new play by Jez Butterworth and starring Tony and Olivier Award-winner Mark Rylance opened April 21 at the Music Box Theatre (239 West 45th Street), in a production directed by Ian Rickson. JERUSALEM originally opened at The Royal Court Theatre in July, 2009.The production played an extended sold out run at the Royal Court, before moving to the Apollo Theatre in the West End in January, 2010, where it received an unprecedented set of five-star reviews from 12 London newspapers.

This fall, the show will head back to the UK, according to the Guardian. Director Ian Rickson also revealed that Tony-winning actor Mark Rylance will reprise his role in the Royal Court production.

The production stars Mark Rylance as Johnny ‘Rooster' Byron, Mackenzie Crook as Ginger John Gallagher, Jr. as Lee, Max Baker as Wesley, Alan David as The Professor, Aimeé-Ffion Edwards as Phaedra, Geraldine Hughes as Dawn, Danny Kirrane as Davey, Charlotte Mills as Tanya, Sarah Moyle as Ms. Fawcett, Molly Ranson as Pea, Harvey Robinson as Mr. Parsons and Barry Sloane as Troy Whitworth. Aiden Eyrick and Mark Page alternate in the role of Marky.

In the woods of South West England, Johnny ‘Rooster' Byron (Mark Rylance), former daredevil motorcyclist and modern-day Pied Piper, is a wanted man. The council officials want to serve him an eviction notice, his son wants to be taken to the country fair, a stepfather wants to give him a serious kicking and a motley crew of friends wants his ample supply of drugs and alcohol.

Mark Rylance is an award-winning actor in theatre, film and television. He won raves earlier this season for his performance as Valere in David Hirson's La Bête, on Broadway and in the West End, directed by Matthew Warchus. He won the 2008 Tony Award and Drama Desk for Best Actor in a Play and a Theatre World Award for his New York stage debut as Robert In Boeing-Boeing. He is a two-time winner of the Olivier Award for Johnny ‘Rooster' Byron in Jerusalem (2010) and Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing (1993). He also won the 2010 Evening Standard and Critics' Circle Awards for Jerusalem.

Rylance was the Artistic Director for Shakespeare's Globe from 1996 to 2005 and also served as an Associate Actor of the RSC, acting in 48 plays by Shakespeare and his contemporaries. Rylance's breakthrough role was Hamlet, which he played first at the Little Theatre of Milwaukee, followed by productions at the Royal Shakespeare Company, A.R.T. in Cambridge and the Globe, amassing more performances in the role than any other actor in history, to date.

His extensive theatre credits include Hamm in Endgame (Complicite, Duchess Theatre, West End); Peer Gynt in Peer Gynt (Guthrie); Macbeth in Macbeth (Phoebus Cart, Greenwich, UK Tour); Lee and Austin in True West (Donmar, West Yorkshire); Touchstone in As You Like It and Henry V in Henry V (Theatre for a New Audience); Constantine in The Seagull (A.R.T.); Romeo in Romeo and Juliet (RSC, UK Tour); Henry in Life x 3 (Royal National Theatre, Old Vic); Puck in A Midsummer Night's Dream (Royal Opera); Valentin in The Kiss of the Spider Woman (Bush Theatre); Peter Pan in Peter Pan, Ariel in The Tempest, Lucentio in Taming of the Shrew, Michael in Arden of Faversham (RSC); among others. His credits at Shakespeare's Globe included Richard II in Richard II, Henry V in Henry V, Bassanio in The Merchant of Venice, Proteus in Two Gentlemen of Verona, Cleopatra in Antony and Cleopatra and Olivia in Twelfth Night, for which he received a 2002 Evening Standard Award.

He is Co-Artistic Director for Phoebus CArt Theatre Company and the London Theatre of Imagination. As director, his credits include: Julius Caesar (Globe), Macbeth, The Tempest (Phoebus Cart), As You Like It (Theatre for a New Audience), co-director for Much Ado About Nothing and Othello (Theatre of Imagination).

Other awards include a 2009 Sam Scripps Lifetime Achievement Award from Theatre for a New Audience, a 2006 Sam Wanamaker Award for his pioneering work with Shakespeare and a 2002 Evening Standard Award for Shakespeare's Globe.

His film work includes: Henry Condell in Anonymous, Inspector Roberts in Blitz, Frank in Nocturne, Sir Thomas Boleyn in The Other Boleyn Girl, Jay in Intimacy (London Film Critics' Circle Award nomination), William in Angels and Insects, Jakob in Instituta Benjamenta, Ferdinand in Prospero's Book and Fizz in Hearts of Fire.

For television, his credits include David Kelly in "The Government Inspector" (2006 BAFTA Award), Leonardo in "Leonardo," Charles Raunce in "Loving," Con in "Love Lies Bleeding," William Blake in "In Lambeth," and John Healy in the multi award-winning "The Glass Arena".

Jez Butterworth is the author of five plays; Mojo (Royal Court 1995); The Night Heron (Royal Court 2002); The Winterling (Royal Court 2006); Parlour Song (Almeida 2009) and Jerusalem (Royal Court 2009). Mojo, The Night Heron and Parlour Song have also been produced in New York in acclaimed productions at Atlantic Theatre Company. He has written and directed two films: Mojo (1998) starring Harold Pinter and Birthday Girl (2002) starring Nicole Kidman. In 2009 he wrote and produced Fair Game, starring Naomi Watts and Sean Penn. He is writing the screenplay for London Calling, about the British punk rock band, The Clash. He has won two Evening Standard Awards and an Olivier, Critics' Circle, Writers' Guild and George Devine Award. In 2007, he received The E.M. Forster Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

Ian Rickson's Broadway credits include the critically acclaimed Royal Court Theatre production of Chekhov's The Seagull, starring Kristin Scott Thomas, Peter Sarsgaard and Mackenzie Crook and Conor McPherson's The Weir. Rickson was Artistic Director at the Royal Court from 1998 to 2006, during which time he directed Krapp's Last Tape, The Winterling, Alice Trilogy, The Sweetest Swing in Baseball, Fallout, The Night Heron, Boy Gets Girl, Mouth to Mouth (also in the West End), Dublin Carol, The Weir (also in the West End and on Broadway), The Lights, Pale Horse and Mojo (also at the Steppenwolf Theatre, Chicago), Ashes & Sand, Some Voices, Killers and Wildfire. Other theatre includes The Hothouse and The Day I Stood Still (National Theatre); Parlour Song (Almeida); Hedda Gabler (Roundabout Theatre, New York); The House of Yes (Gate); Me & My Friend (Chichester Festival Theatre); Queer Fish (BAC), First Strike (Soho Poly) and the West End production of Lillian Hellman's The Children's Hour. Films include Fallout and Krapp's Last Tape. He will direct Michael Sheen (Frost/Nixon) in a new production of Hamlet in London next year.

JERUSALEM's Olivier Award-winning design is by Ultz, with lighting design by Mimi Jordan Sherin and sound design by Ian Dickinson for Autograph. Composer is Stephen Warbeck.

Performances are Tuesday at 7:00 PM, Wednesday at 2:00 and 8:00 PM, Thursday and Friday at 7:00 PM, Saturday at 2:00 and 8:00 PM and Sunday at 3:00 PM. Tickets are available at www.telecharge.com.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride/WM Photos