Stage Door News
Stage Door News
Outside the March, The Company Theatre and Starvox Entertainment are thrilled to be getting rehearsals underway next week for their upcoming Canadian premiere production of Jez Butterworth’s critically-acclaimed Jerusalem.
The iconic stage and screen star Kim Coates leads the cast in the iconic role of Johnny ‘Rooster’ Byron. Coates is joined on stage by Nicholas Campbell (Through the Leaves, Festen), Jason Cadieux (The Wedding Party), Brenna Coates (Lincoln Centre’s The Wolves), Shakura Dickson (The Other Side of the Game), Diana Donnelly (The Shaw Festival’s An Octoroon, Dancing at Lughnasa), Peter Fernandes (Onegin, Father Comes Home From the Wars), Christo Graham (Million Dollar Quartet, “Suits”), Daniel Kash (“Orphan Black”, Mama), Katelyn McCulloch (Stratford’s Treasure Island), Kieran Sequoia (“The Night Shift”), Michael Spencer Davis (Timon of Athens, The Changeling) and The Company Theatre's Philip Riccio (1979, John) as Ginger Yates.
A pied piper tale for the Tarantino generation, Jerusalem is Jez Butterworth’s masterwork. The play tells the story of an aging daredevil—purveyor of drugs, alcohol, mythic tales and sanctuary to the troubled teens of Wiltshire County. In this immersive production, audiences will be invited to come squat with Rooster deep in the heart of the forest as he summons the deep magic of Byron Wood and does battle against the community council bent on bulldozing his land and putting up condos.
Outside the March is known as one of the country’s foremost practitioners of immersive theatre. This production will be staged at the Streetcar Crowsnest Theatre and promises many of the immersive surprises Outside the March is so well known for.
On their blog The Road to Jerusalem, the production has begun revealing limited design details, including that they will be bringing an authentic Airstream trailer right inside the theatre to serve as Rooster’s squat in Byron Wood, where the story is set.
Audiences at evening performances will be invited into the theatre for a party in Byron Wood half an hour before the show, where they’ll be able to have a drink from “Rooster’s stash” and party with the wayward youths of Flintock. Additionally, a limited number of unconventional front row seats, embedded on the fringe of Rooster’s campsite, will be offered at special pricing, reserved for those Under 30 and/or Arts Workers, in a section called “Rooster’s Rats Squat Seating”.
For Coates, Jerusalem marks a return to the stage after 25 years spent focused on his immensely successful film and television career. Prior to his film work, Coates notably played Macbeth at Stratford at the age of 27 and starred as Stanley Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire on Broadway.
Outside the March’s award-winning Founding Artistic Director, Mitchell Cushman, directs the production. Well-recognized as one of Canada’s most important young directors, with a specific focus on immersive theatre, Cushman has won two Dora Awards for Best Production, the Siminovitch Protégé Award, the Ken McDougall Award, and Toronto Theatre Critics Awards for Best Production and Best Director.
Cushman explains , “With Jerusalem, Butterworth has created one of the true masterpieces of our time - a play that dares to reclaim magic and the mythic, in a world of strip malls, chain restaurants and cable TV. In Toronto's time of eternal re-development, Johnny Byron is a monument to all that cannot - will not - be bulldozed. He stands tall with his battle scars and his pint glass, ready to do battle with giants or bureaucrats, or anyone who would disturb his land."
Jerusalem was first produced in 2009 in London where it debuted at the Royal Court Theatre to universal acclaim; in early 2010 the production was transferred to the larger Apollo Theatre and in 2011 the production, with many of the original cast, debuted on Broadway to equally rousing acclaim. Ben Brantley said in his review of the Broadway production in the New York Times, “…this work takes you places — distant, out-of-time places — that well-made plays seldom do. And it thinks big — transcendently big — in ways contemporary drama seldom dares.”
Jerusalem will be on stage in Toronto at Streetcar Crowsnest beginning February 13th through March 10th. (Opening night: February 15th). Tickets now available at JerusalemTO.ca with single tickets starting at $28.25.
Twitter: @OutsideTheMarch, @CompanyTheatre
Facebook: @OutsideTheMarch, @TheCompanyTheatre
Hashtag: #JerusalemTO
Photo: Kim Coates as Johnny ‘Rooster’ Byron.
2018-01-11
Toronto: Outside the March and the Company Theatre present the Canadian premiere of "Jerusalem" starting February 13