{"id":10064,"date":"2014-02-08T14:50:23","date_gmt":"2014-02-08T22:50:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/?p=10064"},"modified":"2014-02-08T14:51:27","modified_gmt":"2014-02-08T22:51:27","slug":"west-coast-premiere-of-jerusalem-at-sf-playhouse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/west-coast-premiere-of-jerusalem-at-sf-playhouse\/","title":{"rendered":"West Coast Premiere of Jerusalem at SF Playhouse"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Brian Dykstra as Johnny “Rooster\u201d Byron in Jerusalem<\/em> at SF Playhouse.\u00a0Photo by Jessica Palopoli<\/p>\n

\u00a0[rating:4] (4\/5 stars)<\/p>\n

San Francisco Playhouse Artistic Director Bill English and Production Director Susi Damilano have launched the New Year with the West Coast\u2019s first production of Jerusalem<\/em>, Jez Butterworth\u2019s epic Tony and Olivier award winning play.<\/p>\n

Bill English directs and Brian Dykstra stars in the role of Johnny \u201cRooster\u201d Byron.\u00a0 On St. George\u2019s Day, the morning of the local county fair, Byron, local waster and modern day Pied Piper is a wanted man.\u00a0 The council officials want to serve him an eviction notice, while his son, Marky (Calum John) wants his dad to take him to the fair.\u00a0 Troy Whitworth (Joe Estlack) wants to give him a serious kicking and a motley crew of mates wants his ample supply of drugs and alcohol. This play makes frequent allusions to William Blake\u2019s famous poem from which the title is derived.<\/p>\n

Jerusalem<\/em> has a large cast of around 15 characters. Some of the main ones are as follows: particular attention should be paid to Brian Dykstra as the die hard, drug dealing, rural squatter and master-of-illicit-ceremonies, Johnny \u201cRooster\u201d Byron. Ian Scott McGregor plays Ginger, the pathetic underdog of the group.\u00a0 He is older than the others who hang around with Johnny, never having grown out of this lifestyle. He aspires to be a D.J. but is in fact, an unemployed plasterer.<\/p>\n

Richard Louis James plays the Professor both vague and whimsical\u2014he spouts philosophical nothings and unwittingly takes LSD. Joshua Shell plays Davey, a young teenager who visits \u201cRooster\u201d regularly for free drugs and alcohol. Joe Estlack is Troy Whitworth, a local thug and villain of the play who beats up Johnny.\u00a0 Paris Hunter Paul is Lee, a young teen who enters the play having been hidden in the sofa, asleep after the first 15 minutes of the play. Julia Belanoff stars as Phaedra (Troy\u2019s stepdaughter), who opens the play singing the hymn Jerusalem<\/em>, dressed in fairy wings. Pea (Devon Simpson) and Tanya (Riley Krull) are two local girls who emerge from underneath Johnny\u2019s caravan, having fallen asleep drunk.\u00a0 Maggie Mason is Dawn, Johnny\u2019s ex-girlfriend and mother to his child. She disapproves of his lifestyle.\u00a0 Christopher Reber is a delight as Wesley, the local pub landlord who is involved in the festivities for St. George\u2019s Day and has been roped into doing the Morris Dancing. Courtney Walsh plays Fawcett and Aaron Murphy plays Parsons, the County officials who place eviction notices on Johnny\u2019s mobile home.<\/p>\n

Bill English\u2019s set is impressive, showing Johnny\u2019s old mobile home.\u00a0 This play, although beautifully directed by Bill English and performed by a very large cast is overly long at over three hours.<\/p>\n

Jerusalem<\/em> plays at SF Playhouse January 26-March 8, 2014.\u00a0 Performances are Tuesday-Thursday at 7p.m., Friday-Saturday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 3 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. For tickets, call 415-677-9596 or go online to www.sfplayhouse.org<\/a>. The SF Playhouse is located at 450 Post Street (2nd<\/sup> Floor of Kensington Park Hotel b\/n Powell and Mason), San Francisco.<\/p>\n

Coming up next at SF Playhouse is Bauer<\/em> by Lauren Gunderson and directed by Bill English, March 18-April 19, 2014.<\/p>\n

Flora Lynn Isaacson<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Brian Dykstra as Johnny “Rooster\u201d Byron in Jerusalem at SF Playhouse.\u00a0Photo by Jessica Palopoli \u00a0[rating:4] (4\/5 stars) San Francisco Playhouse Artistic Director Bill English and Production Director Susi Damilano have…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"yasr_overall_rating":0,"yasr_post_is_review":"","yasr_auto_insert_disabled":"","yasr_review_type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-10064","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-flora-lynn-isaacson"},"yasr_visitor_votes":{"stars_attributes":{"read_only":true,"span_bottom":"