Photo Flash: GAUGLEPRIXTOWN

Studio 42, one of the theatre community's more inventive organizations, presented the American premiere of British wunderkind/playwright Andrew Muir's sensational "Gaugleprixtown" on March 22nd at The Kirk Theatre at Theatre Row (410 West 42nd Street).

This event will run for 21 performances only through April 4th.

Directed by David F. Chapman, the British import will feature Devon Berkshire, Tony Roach and Kurt Uy. The play is based on one of the most shocking crimes in the history of Great Britain;
the 1993 kidnapping and subsequent murder of James Bulger, an innocent 4-year-old who was targeted for random death by two ten-year-old boys.

The nature of the crime was traumatizing. But it was the incessant media coverage that appalled Europe, Canada, North and South America. For weeks the television news delivered the surveillance tape of the two children running towards the exit doors of a shopping mall in Bootle, England with their toddler prey.

Over and over and over again, the British networks repeated the news clip of the impossibly senseless act.

At that time, Andrew Muir was graduating from Drama School in London where no one was allowed to hide from the furor of the case or escape the CC-TV images of the chilling trio as they headed for escape.

After serving 96 months, the murderers were released from Juvenile Detention.

Years later, still reeling from the case, Andrew Muir wrote a play about their imagined first meeting as adults; an act strictly forbidden by the British Justice System. He added a girl.

In 2005, Studio 42 Artistic Director, Bradford Louryk, was in Edinburgh performing "Christine Jorgensen Reveals".  He had one night off and decided to go to a Pub. He was talked into attending a performance of "Gaugleprixtown" instead. It blew his mind. He brought it back to New York with him.

Andrew studied drama at Mountview Theatre School in London where he graduated with a three-year Acting Diploma.  He has worked extensively as an actor in London and the regions in work including:  Six Degrees of Separation, Royal Court and West End; King Lear, Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester; Richard III, Pleasance Theatre, London. He has toured both the UK and Europe in various productions  and was also involved in a British Council funded tour of South America.  As a writer Andrew has had plays produced throughout the UK. His first, Anniversary Sweet was produced at the Finborough Theatre in London where he was acclaimed as a "writer to watch" by the Independent Newspaper. His next play, Push, was given ‘Critic's Choice' and was subsequently offered a six-week extension at the Shaftesbury Theatre.

Andrew has written many short plays for various companies including Paines Plough, Shared Experience, Hampstead Theatre and Menagerie Theatre Company and is currently under commission with Sue Scott Davison Productions for a new play that will be produced in Edinburgh 2009. His short film, ‘Family Man', was produced by JUJU Films and officially selected for the Tarragona Film Festival, Spain. Andrew is a lecturer in Performing Arts at the Bournemouth and Poole College of Further Education. He is Dramaturg for Deafinitely Theatre Company, London and workshop facilitator for the Old Vic New Voices Programme.

The show is playing at The Kirk Theatre - 410 West 42nd Street - (between 9th & 10th Avenues).

The playing schedule is as follows:
Wednesdays through Saturdays ay 8:00pm and Sundays at 3:00pm.

Tickets cost $18.

For reservations visit www.TICKETCENTRAL.com or  call 212-279-4200.

Photos by Aaron Epstein

Devon Berkshire, Tony Roach, and Kurt Uy

Devon Berkshire, Tony Roach, and Kurt Uy

Devon Berkshire

Kurt Uy, Devon Berkshire, and Tony Roach

Devon Berkshire and Tony Roach

Kurt Uy, Devon Berkshire, and Tony Roach