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Jerusalem | Tony Award winning play in San Francisco

Jerusalem_200Jerusalem

Written by Jez Butterworth
Directed by Bill English

Everyone wants Johnny. His son wants to go to the county fair. His mates want his stash and his booze. County officials want him evicted. Whatever happened to the simple life in the country? Come find out in this hit Tony and Olivier winning play!

After opening at London’s Royal Court Theater in 2009, the San Francisco Playhouse production of Jerusalem will be a West Coast premiere!

What people are saying about Jerusalem:

“Jerusalem… is both contemporary and timeless, with mythic and Shakespearean aspects woven into its storytelling.” – San Francisco Chronicle

“SF Playhouse produces epic Jerusalem” – San Francisco Examiner

“Jez Butterworth’s gorgeous, expansive new play keeps coming at its audience in unpredictable gusts, rolling from comic to furious, from winsome to bawdy.”-The Guardian

Warning: Mature Content
Note: Jerusalem contains adult themes including drug use, drinking, and profanity, and is intended for audiences aged 16 and up. Discretion is advised.

The performance will also feature the use of strobe lights, theatrical haze, and herbal cigarettes. 

Production Photos:

Photos by Jessica Palopoli

Pre-Production Photos:

Photos by Lauren English

 The Cast of Jerusalem:

Julia-BelanoffJulia Belanoff (Phaedra) is thrilled to be back at San Francisco Playhouse, where she has appeared in Camelot (Nimue), Coraline (Coraline), and Landscape of the Body (Margie). At Custom Made Theatre Company, she has appeared in The Diary of Anne Frank (Anne) and The Effect of Gamma Rays… (Tillie). Her other theatrical credits include Little Women (Beth) at TheatreWorks, The Cherry Orchard (Anya) at Pear Avenue Theatre, The Secret Garden (Mary) at Coastal Repertory Theatre, and numerous productions at Stagedoor Manor Performing Arts Training Center, including Our Town (Emily), Little Shop of Horrors (Audrey), Whistle Down the Wind (Swallow), Carousel (Carrie), and All Shook Up (Natalie). Ms. Belanoff studies voice with Debra Lambert and dance at Dance Arts Center. Her album Winner In Your Heart is available on iTunes. In fall 2014, she will begin her undergraduate studies at Harvard as a member of the class of 2018.

IanIan DeVaynes (Marky) was born in Brooklyn, New York but lives in San Francisco now. Ian is 10 years old and a fifth grade student at Holy Name School. Ian is no stranger to the stage and began performing and showing his passion for the stage while in pre-school. He takes every opportunity to perform on stage and does “hip-hop” in his school’s annual talent show. He has attended San Francisco A.C.T.’s Young Conservatory since he was eight years old. Ian has performed in A.C.T. A Christmas Carol for the past two years, loves music, singing and dance. He also has a passion for playing sports with baseball being his favorite. When not on stage, you will find him on a field hitting a “Home Run”.

bryanBrian Dykstra* (Johnny Rooster) is an actor, playwright, and HBO Def Poet. He recently played Lord Capulet in Romeo & Juliet (Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington D.C.) and spent six months on Broadway with Tom Hanks in Lucky Guy (directed by George C. Wolfe). Dykstra has also played Rothko (Red), Walter (The Price), Trigorin (The Seagull), Gus (Call Me Waldo), Elyot Chase (Private Lives), Claudius (Hamlet), Heisenberg (Copenhagen), Eddie Carbon (View from the Bridge). Solo shows include: Cornered & Alone, Ho, The Jesus Factor, and Selling Out. Film/TV roles include: “HBO Def Poetry,” “Chappelle’s Show,” Knight & Day, Freedomland, Corn, “Third Watch,” “Law & Order”. His play productions include: Hiding Behind Comets (Stavis Award Winner), A Play On Words, The Two of You, Clean Alternatives (Edinburgh Fringe First) Strangerhorse, Forsaking All Others, and Spill The Wine. His current projects include two plays and an operatic adaptation of The Learned Ladies by Moliere.

JoeJoe Estlack (Troy) trained in the lineage of Jacques Lecoq. He was last seen in Strangers, Babies at the Ashby Stage. Other credits include Bonnie and Clyde (Ashby Stage), Woyzeck (Ashby Stage), Welcome Home Jenny Sutter (Theater First) and The Medea Hypotheses (Central Works). He received a nomination from the BACC for his portrayal of Jake in Sam Sheppard’s A Lie of the Mind (Boxcar Theater). His next role is Van Helsing in Dracula Inquest at Central Works in July.

richardRichard Louis James (Professor). Mr. James last appeared with the SFPlayhouse in The Crucible, Prelude To A Kiss, and the S.F. premiere of his one man show Tea n‘ Crisp. His last performance was with ShotgunPlayers this past fall as Duncan in Strangers, babies.

 

 

CalumCalum John (Marky) is thrilled to be back at the Playhouse having spent last summer as Tom in Camelot.  A 5th grader at Miraloma Elementary School, Calum’s previous credits include Tiny Tim at ACT, the title role in Oliver Twist at the Dickens Christmas Faire and Korzcak’s Children, Moontel 6 and I was a Rat in the Young Conservatory at ACT.  He worked with the ACT 2nd year MFA students in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and David Copperfield. He has worked in voice-over and commercials, most recently looping Monsters University (Pixar).   He stars in the upcoming feature film, Yosemite, with screenplay and direction by Gabrielle Demeestere.

RileyRiley Krull (Tanya Crawley) is proud to be making her Playhouse debut! Recent Credits include: Being Earnest  (Cecily) with TheatreWorks, Another Way Home (Nora) with Magic Theatre, Carrie, The Musical (Chris) with Ray of Light Theatre, Sugar (Sugar) and Three Sisters (Mary) with 42nd Street Moon, Spring Awakening (Wendla) with Altarena Playhouse, The Little Foxes (Alexandra) with Tides Theatre, and Legally Blonde, The Musical (Margot) with Diablo Theatre Company. Riley graduated with honors from the Boston Conservatory of Music and studied at London’s Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. She can be seen this fall as the famed beauty Evelyn Nesbit in Harry Thaw Hates Everybody at Shotgun Players. For her web series “You Are Here” and more, visit www.rileykrull.com.

maggiemasonMaggie Mason (Dawn) is delighted to be working on this beautiful play with such incredible people. She was last at the San Francisco Playhouse assistant directing Abigail’s Party and will be appearing at the Magic Theater in Every 5 Minutes this Spring.  New York Credits: These Seven Sicknesses, and Arok of Java (Exit, Pursued by a Bear), Right to the Top (staged reading) written and directed by Amy Freed. Select Bay Area Credits: You, Nero  dir. Sharon Ott, Pericles (u/s) dir. Mark Wing-Davey and Arabian Nights (u/s) dir. Mary Zimmerman (Berkeley Repertory Theatre); Period of Adjustment (SF Playhouse) dir. Bill English; Why We Have A Body dir. Katie Pearl, and Or, dir. Loretta Greco (Magic Theatre, nominated ‘Best Actress’ for the BACC awards); Henry V (SF Shakespeare Festival);   Rock and Roll (San Jose Stage); Hamlet and As You Like It (Pacific Repertory Theatre);  Oskar the Bully (Theatreworks). Film and television: Grange Hill (BBC) Gemma Lyons, 3 seasons.

ianscottIan Scott McGregor* (Ginger) is honored to make his San Francisco Playhouse debut in Jerusalem.  Born and raised in the Bay Area, Mr. McGregor now calls Brooklyn home.  He’s performed with Encore Theatre Company, Z-Space, Aurora Theatre Company, Magic Theatre, Shakespeare Santa Cruz, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, American Conservatory Theatre, NY Fringe Festival and The Williamstown Theatre Festival.   Television: The 67th Annual Tony Awards, HBO’s Boardwalk Empire and VEEP, Comedy Central’s The Onion Sports Network, NBC’s Law & Order and many national commercials. Film: Magnolia Pictures’ The Brass Teapot, The Zodiac and The Lost Coast (*Official Selection SXSW Film Festival, 2008 and SF Frameline, 2008, **Winner Best New Feature, NYC NewFest, 2008). He performed the voice and motion-capture for “Cletus” in the fastest-selling video game in history, Grand Theft Auto V.  Thanks to Bill, Susi, Lauren, this immeasurably talented cast, Craig, Will, Dev, Mom, Dad and most importantly, you, the loyal theatre patrons of San Francisco.

aaronAaron Murphy (Parsons) last performed with SF Playhouse in Seven Days. He recently has appeared in Oleanna with Spare Stage, Arms and the Man and To Kill a Mockingbird with Center Rep, A Doll’s House at Willows Theatre, and Doubt: a Parable with the Drama Association at Rossmoor. Other credits include Glengarry Glen Ross and Betrayal (Actors Theater of San Francisco), Gaslight, Uncle Vanya, Hedda Gabler, The Real Inspector Hound, The Homecoming, and American Buffalo. He co-founded the theater company Spare Stage, performing in productions of Here, Private Eyes, Ashes to Ashes, and Afterplay, as well as producing The Unexpected Man, which received three Critic Circle awards. He earned his BFA in Acting at UC Santa Barbara.

paris

Paris Hunter Paul* (Lee) Theatre: SF Playhouse: Camelot; The Guthrie Theater: A Christmas Carol 2012 & 2013 (both times as Young Scrooge), In Game or Real, the Dowling Studio; Berkeley Repertory Theatre: (as understudy) Pericles, No Man’s Land, Vanya & Sonya & Masha & Spike; California Shakespeare Theater: Titus Andronicus, Candida; Great River Shakespeare Festival: Titus Andronicus, Othello; Walking Shadow Theatre Company: Orpheus in Eurydice; UMN Xperimental Theatre: Equivocation (actor, director, producer); Tides Theatre w/ Center for Investigative Reporting: Storyworks. Next: Cutting Ball Theatre: Communique #10 (world premier); Jungle Theatre: The Heiress. Training: University of Minnesota/Guthrie Theater B.F.A. Actor Training Program (class of 2012); Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, UK, London Int’l School of Performing Arts. Learn more about Paris’ acting, teaching, and directing at www.parishunterpaul.com.

christopherChristopher Reber* (Wesley) San Francisco Playhouse: Debut; Bay Area: Jewel Theatre’s Pump Boys and Dinettes, Arcadia, Gunmetal Blues.  42nd St. Moon’s Three Sisters. San Jose Rep’s A Christmas Carol 2.0. NYC: Betty and the Bellrays; Life During Wartime; The Time of Mendel’s Trouble. Regional: Inherit the Wind, Carnival, 1776, Evita, Side By Side By Sondheim, The Illusion, Romance/Romance, A Romantic Comedy, The Mound Builders, Our Country’s Good, The Frog Prince, Biloxi Blues, No Sex Please…We’re British, Noises Off, The Baltimore Waltz, Man of La Mancha   For Lee Ann

davidDavid Raymond (Man 1, understudy) is proud to be making his San Francisco theatrical debut with San Francisco Playhouse.  Recent Bay Area credits include “Jack” in The Importance of Being Earnest with Stanford Summer Theater.  Chicago credits include “Kenny” in The Sand Castle with Theatre Seven of Chicago.  David is a NHSI Cherubs alumnus (2008) and a recent graduate of Stanford University (B.A. Theater and Performance Studies ’14).  Stanford credits include “John Proctor” in The Crucible, “Comet” in The Eight: Reindeer Monologues, “Orlando” in As You Like It, “Parolles” in All’s Well That Ends Well, “Wisehammer” in Our Country’s Good, and “Boy” in Bulrusher.  Independent and short film credits include I’m Not in The Crowd, Portola Gone, Nighthawks, and The Vipassanna Order.  He would like to thank his family for their love and support.

joshuaJoshua Schellis (Davey/Man 2) thrilled to be appearing in his first production with the Playhouse. Credits include In the Red and Brown Water with Marin Theatre Company, Pelleas and Melisande with Cutting Ball, Richard the First with Central Works, The Bereaved and Songs of the Dragons Flying to Heaven with Crowded Fire, It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play with Broadway By the Bay, Anna Christie with Role Players Ensemble, Chris Christophersen with the Eugene O’Neill Foundation, A Lie of the Mind with Boxcar, The Nature Line with Sleepwalkers, Treefall with New Conservatory, A Few Good Men with Hapgood, True West and Fool for Love with the Casitas Group and West with the Electric Lodge and understudy credits with Berkeley Rep and Cal Shakes. Independent films include The Whistler, Pleased to Meet You, Before the Cabin Burned Down and Maker’s Mark. He holds a BFA from the University of Southern California and is an alum of ACT’s Young Conservatory.

devonDevon Simpson (Pea) is incredibly excited to be in her first performance at SF Playhouse. She currently studies English and Theater Arts at UC Berkeley, where she has performed in Sweeney Todd, Death and Other Hobbies, and as the title role in Salome. Other roles include: Olive Ostrovsky (The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee), Amy March (Little Women), Glinda (The Wizard of Oz), Queenie (Honk!), and Et Cetera (Cats). She would like to thank Troy River at AHS and everyone at StarStruck Theatre in Fremont for introducing her to theater and her parents for their never-ending support.

courtneyCourtney Walsh (Fawcett, U/S Dawn) is delighted to make her San Francisco Playhouse debut. After earning a B.A. in Theater at Yale, Courtney worked as an actor in Los Angeles, then earned a law degree, representing abused children. Since returning to acting in 2006, Courtney has appeared throughout the Bay Area (including six seasons with Stanford Summer Theater’s professional company) and in Los Angeles, San Antonio, Salt Lake City, Cardiff, Berlin, Athens and Amsterdam. Courtney’s latest film, The Track, was a 2012 film festival selection in Boston, Miami, Sun Valley, Sonoma and Las Vegas. She recently appeared at Tides Theater in Amy Glazer’s production of The Couch. In Fall 2013, she earned critical acclaim as Winnie in Beckett’s Happy Days in the U.S. and France, performing in both English and French. Courtney is a CSP drama lecturer at Stanford. Also a competitive equestrienne, she lives in Marin with her husband and four children. courtneywalsh.net

Watch the Trailer for Jerusalem:

Behind the Scenes

Performances Start: Jan 21, 2014

Press Opening: Jan 25, 2014

Closes: Mar 8, 2014

Run time: 3 Hours (with two ten-minute intermissions)

Show Times: Tuesday – Thursday at 7pm, Friday at 8pm, Saturday at 3pm & 8pm, Select Sundays at 2pm.

Note: All Preview performances start at 8pm

Tickets: $20 – $100

Order Online or call (415) 677-9596

Box office Hours: Tues-Sat 1:00 pm-6:00 pm


A note from Artistic Director Bill English

In the last 10-15 years, “Jerusalem,” the song, based on a poem by William Blake has become the unofficial national anthem of England. Sung at every rugby match, it has become the “peoples” anthem. Originally, Blake was lamenting the destruction of British rural life by the industrial revolution, but today the English have adopted his battle cry to the sanctity of common man against incursion of corporate and government control. It is the British equivalent of “Oh beautiful for spacious skies,” a song that celebrates the majesty and holiness of the land itself. Set in the Southwest of England, where Stonehenge sits amid many other ancient Druid sites, Jez Butterworth’s magnificent play seeks to defend the primal magic and eternal mystery of our pagan human roots and our bond to the land.

Johnny “Rooster,” Byron – part Falstaff, part Pied Piper, part Dionysus – presides over his “heathen army” of outcasts and misfits. An incorrigible wordsmith, he both wields language with the deft ease of Shakespeare and jumps buses on a motorcycle. Squatting on public land, he defends his brood from the encroaching conformity of suburbanites holding Bacchanals through the night, his credo, “What do you think an English forest is for?”

Like Dionysus, he reminds us that we must celebrate revelry and abandon. That our digitally regimented contemporary life is empty of enduring spiritual value. He is the eternal outlaw, like Robin Hood, squatting in the forest to protect truths we cannot see or touch, but truth that feeds our hearts and souls. His passion so great, his yearning so eloquent, that when he calls the giants to battle with him against to coming eviction, we want to believe they will really come.

–Bill English, Artistic Director

Glossary of Terms

The world of Jez Butterworth’s Jerusalem is full of slang you may have never heard before. Brush up on the words and phrases used by Rooster Byron and his motley gang here.

The numbers within parenthesis indicate the page they appear in the script.

Wessex (6) – An Anglo-Saxon kingdom in the southwest of England founded in 519 AD that lasted until 927 AD when England was united.

St. George’s Day (9) – National Saint’s Day of England. Celebrated on April 23. St George is the Patron Saint of England. Full of feasting and celebrating and parading, etc.

Jools Holland (11) – An English musician who hosts a late night music talk show.

Girls Aloud (12) – An English all-female pop group popular in the early 2000s. Kind of like the Spice Girls.

Super T (12) – Tennent’s Super, a super strength lager from the UK.

Rothmans (12) – A British cigarette brand.

Spun the lemons (13) – Played a slot machine.

Bog (13) – Toilet.

Slapper (13) – British term for an unattractive slut.

Moonrakers (14) – This bar is named after a colloquial term for people from Wiltshire.

Squaddie (14) – Derogatory term for an off-duty British soldier.

Whizz (14) – Amphetamines.

“To see a strange outlandish fowl…” (15) – Most of this is from a 1616 poem by Henry Farley. The lines about the warlock and St George’s Day are added and do not seem to come from any outside source.

Bracken (15) – A type of fern.

Baccy (18) – Tobacco.

HP (18) – HP Sauce, a brown sauce that is very popular in England.

Where’s my money, then (19) – ie. Which one should I bet on?

St Trinian’s (19) – A fictional all girls’ boarding school that was the subject of some British cartoons and movies. Basically, naughty schoolgirls to the extreme.

Golliwogs (20) – A blackface rag doll character from the late 19th century.

Polytunnel (20) – Rounded plastic tunnels used in agriculture like greenhouses.

Wangers (20) – Breasts.

Ribena (20) – British berry flavored soft drink often used as a mixer

Benilyn (20) – Cough syrup.

Action Man (22) – British version of G.I. Joe.

Oxfam (22) – British charity/store like Goodwill.

Pot Noodle (23) – Instant ramen.

Tuss (27) – British insult, like wanker.

Dual carriageway (28) – A divided highway.

Kip over (29) – Visit, come over.

Got the hump (30) – British expression that means to be upset at someone because you think they did something bad to you.

 New Estate (30) – Wiltshire County recently built a whole bunch of housing developments all over the county called the New Estate.

Giving it long handle (30) – Drinking excessively.

Trials bike (31) – Mountain bike used for obstacle courses.

Chucking it down (31) – Raining hard.

Tally-Ho (32) – Adnams Tally-Ho, a traditional British Christmas beer.

Flapjack (33) – A UK flapjack is like a granola bar, not an American pancake.

Chumbawumba (37) – The 90′s British rock band that brought us Tubthumping, this famous song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2H5uWRjFsGc

Cheeky moo (37) – A more polite way of calling someone a cow.

Snaffler (38) – A greedy person or thief.

Bluey (38) – £5 note.

TARDIS (39) – The time machine from Doctor Who. It’s bigger on the inside.

Slotted (39) – Drunk.

Got the hump with me (40) – Mad at me.

Breezers (42) – Fruit flavored Bacardi rum coolers. Popular among teen girls.

Earwigging (43) – Eavesdropping.

Knobbly knees (46) – A contest in which contestants compare their knees and are judged on whose knees look/feel the “knobbliest.”

Welly wanging (46) – A competition to throw a rubber boot the farthest.

Draw (50) – Marijuana

Knackered (55) – Tired.

Little Chef (57) – A roadside restaurant chain modeled after American diners.

Land’s End (57) – The most western point in all of England. Because of this it’s often used as a figure of speech to express distance.

The Lizard (57) –The most southern point in all of England in Cornwall.

Salisbury Plain (58) – Location of Stonehenge.

BBC Points West (58) – A news program covering the west of England.

Scratchcard (59) – A lottery ticket; the kind where you scratch off.

Pillock (63) – Idiot.

Plimsolls (63) – Canvas sneakers, e.g. Converse, Vans.

Jimmy Riddle (68) – Peeing.

Candyfloss (71) – Cotton candy.

Avebury Standing Stones (72) – A large Stonehenge-type circle in Wiltshire.

Silbury Hill (72) – A neolithic manmade monument near Avebury in Wiltshire.

Glastonbury (72) – A town in Somerset County inhabited since neolithic times.

Bender (72) – British slang for a gay man.

10 Brookside Close/Trevor Jordache (73-4) – A murder that occurred on the British soap opera Brookside in 1995.

Sparko (77) – Sleeping, in a daze.

Worzel (80) – Country bumpkin.

Stig of the Dump (80) – A British children’s book about a caveman who lives in a junkyard.

Tannoy (83) – Loudspeaker.

Abattoir (89) – Slaughterhouse.

Saveloy (90) – British fast food sausage/hotdog.

Povvo (90) – Derogatory slang for a poor person (short for ‘poverty’).

Alan Sugar (90) – A British billionaire business magnate.

Borstal (98) – Juvenile detention center.

Barrow (107) – Grave.

Búri (109) – A Norse god, grandfather of Odin.

Gog and Magog (109) – Biblical figures who are portrayed as giants in British folklore.

Vili and Vé (109) – Norse mythological figures, brothers of Odin.

Yggdrasil (109) – A giant tree in Norse cosmology.

Brutus of Albion (109) – Referring to Brutus of Troy, the founder and first king of Britain (previously known as Albion) in medieval British legend.

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