New casting has been announced for Lin-Manuel Miranda's [*Hamilton*](https://www.londontheatre.co.uk/show/20561-hamilton-tickets) in the West End. The new cast will have their first performance at the Victoria Palace Theatre on 17 June.

Alex Sawyer (*Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, Girl from the North Country*) will take on the title role of Alexander Hamilton, having previously been the alternate, opposite Jay Perry (*Back To The Future, Sylvia, Motown the Musical, Beautiful: The Carole...

'Hamilton' announces new casting in the West End

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The new cast of Lin-Manuel Miranda's *Hamilton* will have their first performance at the Victoria Palace Theatre in the West End on 17 June.

Casting has been announced for [*Heathers the Musical*](https://www.londontheatre.co.uk/show/11652-heathers-the-musical), which returns to the West End later this month. The show will open at @sohoplace for a limited run.

Kevin Murphy and Laurence O’Keefe's musical about dangerous high school cliques was last seen in the West End in 2021.

The show will star Jenna Innes (*Les Misérables*), who returns as Veronica Sawyer. She is joined by Keelan McAuley (*Clueless, Grease*) as JD.

The titular...

Casting announced for 'Heathers the Musical' at @sohoplace

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ITV’s *I Have a Dream* finalist Esme Bowdler, Sedona Sky, and Daisy Twells are the musical's titular Heathers. Jenna Innes returns to the show as Veronica Sawyer.

Summer in London means one thing: it's musicals season! Sure, we have fantastic musical theatre in the capital all year round, but the sunnier months always seem to be a particularly exciting time for big song-and-dance shows – ideal for filling the school holidays with [family trips to spectacular productions](https://www.londontheatre.co.uk/whats-on/family-kids).

You’ll find plenty of blockbuster West End entertainment this summer, thanks to the likes of *[Kiss, Me...

Top West End musicals to see this summer

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This essential list features all the musicals, from *Kiss Me, Kate* to *Hello, Dolly!*, that are perfect for a summer trip to the West End, whatever the weather.

Wilkommen! Four new actors will join the [*Cabaret*](https://www.londontheatre.co.uk/show/23939-cabaret-tickets) West End cast, beginning performances on 3 June at the [Kit Kat Club at the Playhouse Theatre](https://www.londontheatre.co.uk/theatres/playhouse-theatre).

*Heartstopper* star Rhea Norwood will make her professional stage debut as Sally Bowles alongside *Everybody’s Talking About Jamie* and *Bad Education* star Layton Williams as The Emcee. Norwood and Williams will perform in...

'Cabaret' sets new West End cast, including Rhea Norwood

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*Heartstopper* star Norwood and *Bad Education*'s Layton Williams are among the new actors joining the seven-time Olivier Award-winning musical revival.

The world premiere of *My Neighbour Totoro* triumphed at the 2023 Olivier Awards, winning six categories out of its nine nominations at the ceremony. It’s a good time for the Studio Ghibli stage adaptation, too, as *My Neighbour Totoro* will open in the West End next year, with performances at the [Gillian Lynne Theatre](https://www.londontheatre.co.uk/theatres/gillian-lynne-theatre) from 8 March.

Based on Hayao Miyazaki’s 1988 Studio Ghibli film, *My Neighbour Totoro* follows Satsuki and Mei,...

Here's why 'My Neighbour Totoro' deserved all the Oliviers

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Based on Hayao Miyazaki’s 1988 Studio Ghibli film, *My Neighbour Totoro* will return to London later next year, opening at the Gillian Lynne Theatre.

Next year, the [Royal Shakespeare Company’s](https://www.londontheatre.co.uk/stars-on-stage/royal-shakespeare-company) triumphant 2022 stage adaptation of [*My Neighbour Totoro*](https://www.londontheatre.co.uk/show/25389-my-neighbour-totoro) heads to the West End's [Gillian Lynne Theatre](https://www.londontheatre.co.uk/theatres/gillian-lynne-theatre) for a third run due to enormous popular demand. The show won six Olivier Awards and broke the Barbican’s box office record for the most tickets...

What to expect from London shows based on Studio Ghibli films

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Studio Ghibli is a renowned Japanese animation film studio founded in 1985. They are known for creating imaginative movies, including *My Neighbour Totoro* and *Spirited Away*.

A stage adaptation of television comedy *Inside No 9* will arrive in the West End next year. The show opens for a 12-week run at Wyndham's Theatre from 18 January 2025.

The TV show's original writers and performers Steve Pemberton (*The Pillowman*) and Reece Shearsmith (*A Very Expensive Poison*) will star in the West End show, titled *Stage/Fright*, which will blend original material with familiar characters from the series. 

Speaking about the announcement, Pemberton and Shearsmith said:...

Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith's 'Inside No 9' to be adapted for the West End 

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The TV show's original creators Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith will star in the West End adaptation when it opens next year. 

The hit musical comedy *Titanique* has confirmed plans for a West End run later this year. The show is currently performing at Off-Broadway venue the Daryl Roth Theatre.

The musical, which is co-written by Tye Blue, Marla Mindelle, and Constantine Rousouli, has received critical acclaim and multiple awards since its premiere off Broadway at Asylum Theater in 2022.

The parody of James Cameron's Oscar-winning *Titanic* film features a raft of Celine Dion’s iconic songs including “My Heart Will...

'Titanique' confirms planned West End run

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The musical has received critical acclaim and multiple awards since its premiere off Broadway at Asylum Theater in 2022. It is currently at the Daryl Roth Theatre.

The British writer James Graham is on an incredible run at the moment. He just won the Olivier Award for Best New Play for *Dear England*, a fantastic drama about football manager Gareth Southgate, which enticed new audiences into theatre, and the musical *Tammy Faye*, for which he supplied the book, is opening on Broadway this autumn.

He’s also a prolific screenwriter, with recent hits including the crime series *Sherwood* and the dystopian drama *The Way*. Graham has that rare combination of...

Learn more about James Graham’s career ahead of 'Boys from the Blackstuff'

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From plays *Dear England* and *This House* to TV hits like *Sherwood*, Graham is unstoppable – and now his *Boys from the Blackstuff* is coming to the West End.

The bright lights of West End theatres are always appealing, but there are also a number of exciting Off-West End venues in the capital, such as the small but mighty [Bush Theatre](https://www.londontheatre.co.uk/theatres/bush-theatre), which is nestled in west London.

This theatre has always punched above its weight, launching the careers of hugely successful writers such as James Graham and Lucy Kirkwood, as well as actors like Victoria Wood, Alan Rickman, Andrew Scott, and Phoebe...

A complete guide to the Bush Theatre

Bush Theatre credit Philip Vile

Get to know this exciting new-writing venue in west London, which has launched the careers of Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Victoria Wood, among others.

UPDATE:&nbsp;Jerusalem&nbsp;starring Mark Rylance and Mackenzie Crook will open at the Apollo Theatre in April 2022. <a href="/theatre-news/news/mark-rylance-and-mackenzie-crook-to-star-in-jerusalem-west-end-revival">Find out more about&nbsp;Jerusalem&nbsp;in London here</a>.Sonia Friedman has used social media to tease that Jez Butterworth's play <a href="/show/jerusalem">Jerusalem </a>is set to return to London next year.Directed by Ian Rickson, the play premiered at the <a href="/theatres/royal-court">Royal Court</a> in 2009, and starred Mark Rylance as Johnny "Rooster" Byron, a wanted man who is being searched for by the council while his son wants to take him to the local fair, local gangsters want to kick his head in, and his mates are after his stash.Opening to rave reviews, the play transferred to the <a href="/show/apollo-theatre">Apollo Theatre</a> in 2010, and Mark Rylance went on to win the Olivier Award for best actor, followed by the Tony Award for best actor in a play after the production opened on Broadway the following year.Rylance returned to the role once again in the West End in 2011, but the play has not returned since.Now, on St George's Day, on which the play is set, Sonia Friedman announced the play, directed by Rickson and starring Rylance, will return in 2021.<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Rooster's ready! See You Next Year... <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Jerusalem?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Jerusalem</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/HappyStGeorgesDay?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#HappyStGeorgesDay</a> <a href="https://t.co/k093E3DXbY">pic.twitter.com/k093E3DXbY</a>— Sonia Friedman Productions (@SFP_London) <a href="https://twitter.com/SFP_London/status/1253262372099194883?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 23, 2020</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>A venue, dates and ticketing details are yet to be announced for the revival.

Jez Butterworth’s Jerusalem to return to London in 2021 with Mark Rylance

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Genre: Play

Jerusalem

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The Rooster returns to London. Jez Butterworth’s heralded play *Jerusalem* returns to the West End with its original stars, Mark Rylance and Mackenzie Crook, and in its original staging by director Ian Rickson. Set an alert for *Jerusalem* tickets in London on TodayTix.

Johnny “Rooster” Byron (Mark Rylance) lives in a caravan in the woods. Council officials are trying to serve him an eviction notice, but never seem to find him home. Nor does his young son, who wants Roster to join him at the county fair. Or Troy Whitworth, who is after revenge. Rooster has evaded them all for as long as he can, but his time may finally be up. 

Jez Butterworth’s *Jerusalem* play was greeted with universal acclaim upon its premiere at the Royal Court Theatre in 2009. Time Out described it as “a state-of-the-nation play which is a pastoral comedy” and “an edgy piece of new writing,” while The Guardian declared that “the triumph belongs to Rylance for perfectly embodying Butterworth's vision of a vanished demonic magic.”

*Jerusalem* transferred to the Apollo Theatre on the West End in 2010 and then to the Music Box Theatre on Broadway in 2011, before finally returning to the West End for a second run following its New York success. Now this enduring and beloved work is back on the West End once again.

Set an alert for *Jerusalem* tickets in London on TodayTix.

## What to Watch For

- Mark Rylance won both the Laurence Olivier Award and the Tony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Play for his work in *Jerusalem* as Rooster.
- Returning co-star Mackenzie Crook received Olivier and Tony nominations for his performance as Ginger.
- The *Jerusalem* West End run returns to the same theatre where it played twice in 2010 and 2011, the Apollo.
- *Jerusalem* is often considered to be one of the best plays of all time. In 2019, The Independent described Jerusalem as “the greatest British play of the century.”
- Jez Butterworth was most recently represented on the West End with his hit play *The Ferryman*, which played the Gielgud Theatre in 2017.

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The Rooster is back. Ian Rickson's acclaimed production of Jez Butterworth's play Jerusalem returns to London's West End for a limited run, with original stars <a href="/actor-profile/mark-rylance">Mark Rylance</a> and <a href="/actor-profile/mackenzie-crook">Mackenzie Crook</a> reprising their roles.&nbsp;Jerusalem&nbsp;tickets will be available on London Theatre soon.Johnny "Rooster" Byron is a wanted man. Local council officials want to serve him an eviction notice, his friends want his ample supply of alcohol and drugs, his son wants to take him to the county fair, and Troy Whitworth wants to settle a score. It's a lot for one man, living out in the woods in a caravan, to handle. How does The Rooster do it?&nbsp;Jerusalem first premiered at the <a href="/theatres/royal-court-theatre">Royal Court Theatre</a> in 2009, in the downstairs Jerwood Theatre. Butterworth's play was an instant sell-out sensation and received critical acclaim. Rickson's production quickly transferred to the West End in 2010, then to Broadway in 2011, and then to the West End again later in 2011. Rylance and Crook played Johnny "Rooster" Byron and Ginger respectively in all four productions. The pair now return to those two legendary roles.&nbsp;Jerusalem was showered with awards upon its initial staging. Rylance won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Play, and the play was nominated for six Olivier Awards overall. The following year, Rylance won the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play, and Jerusalem again received six nominations total. The Independent described the play in a 2019 article as "the greatest British play of the century."Jerusalem returns to London's West End twelve years after its premiere as the continued reigning champion of British theatrical drama. The Rooster is back at it again.&nbsp;

Tickets to *Jerusalem* will be available soon.

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A modern classic returns to the West End. For a strictly limited run, Mark Rylance returns to his iconic role in one the most well-received plays of the 2000s. 
Rooster Byron’s caravan life is under assault on all sides. It’s a portrait of modern Britain that remains as timely as when it premiered. 
Don’t miss your chance to see the strictly limited run of *Jerusalem* at the Apollo Theatre.

Jez Butterworth’s 2009 tragicomedy [*Jerusalem*](https://www.londontheatre.co.uk/show/23938-jerusalem "Jerusalem"), starring Mark Rylance as Johnny “Rooster” Byron, has long been heralded as among the greatest plays of the decade, if not century. So, does this feverishly anticipated revival – once again led by Rylance and Mackenzie Crook as sidekick Ginger, and directed by Ian Rickson – cement its place in theatre history? In short: hell yes. 

Like all great state-of-the-nation epics, it feels different, but just as potent, in this new context. It can certainly be read as a Brexit play, with Rooster’s group of rural, working-class misfits clinging to a fantasy version of a past England. Davy, who works in the local abattoir, boasts that his ears pop if he even leaves Wiltshire, and sniffs that BBC Points West is now in thrall to Belgium. But it reaches further than one referendum: it’s an empathetic exploration of the outsider, and of our national myth-making.

Most importantly, Rylance’s titanic performance as the gypsy Rooster really is one for the ages. His entrance is spectacular: he bursts out of his Airstream trailer in the woods, tattooed, sunburnt and limping, barrel chest puffed out, and skips into a handstand over the water trough. He then retrieves an egg from his squawking chickens, chucks the shell into the audience, mixes up a hangover cure with milk, vodka and speed, and downs it in one – to rapturous applause.

It immediately establishes Rooster the showman. He used to be a motorcycle daredevil and now has a captive audience of disaffected young people who come to buy drugs, party at his Bacchanalian raves, and hear his outlandish stories. Those tales work their rough magic on us too: the one about his birth to a virgin mother via a stray bullet, or his meeting with the giant who built Stonehenge on the A14, “about half a mile past the Little Chef.”

That mix of the mystical and the mundane, with very specific local references and idioms, is key to Butterworth’s filthily funny and utterly beguiling drama, which all takes place on St George’s Day, as the local town of Flintock holds its annual fair. His characters can wax lyrical about the historic May pastoral revels or powerful ley lines one minute, and in the next laugh over Rooster drunkenly smashing up his TV. 

Rylance’s twinkling-eyed host has a rebellious, libertarian spirit, which again chimes with some of our current debates. He despises the new estate built nearby, and is at war with the bureaucracy. Kennet and Avon Council, represented by two po-faced council workers in yellow vests with clipboards, are determined to evict him, but Rooster claims an ancient ownership to this land that runs much deeper than permits and petitions.

Is he a hero or a menace? He claims that these kids would otherwise be in worse danger, hanging out at bus stops or, in the case of the missing Phaedra, left at the mercy of her thuggish stepfather. But I felt far more unease this time around at seeing underage girls getting high with older men, particularly given Rooster’s casually misogynist (and occasionally racist) language. Butterworth’s writing of the female characters is weaker too, and he slots them into confining boxes: the innocent nymph, the pushy tramp and the joyless mum.

Yet, as the mood darkens, Butterworth does interrogate his magnetic protagonist. Rooster’s anarchic behaviour is far less entertaining when he’s neglecting his young son and letting his ex down – or, worse, tempting her with cocaine. He gradually becomes a pathetic figure as we learn that his waifs and strays actually make fun of him, and that he’s been repeating this same pattern with each new generation for decades. Nothing ever changes.

What at first seems like a paean to tradition then curdles into tragic stasis. Everyone is trapped in jobs or lives they hate, including Ginger, unemployed plasterer and wannabe DJ. Crook playing him older is even more effective, since he’s expressing adolescent dreams as a weary grown man. He and Rylance have built up a remarkable dynamic: co-dependency laced with both affection and needling nastiness.

There’s great support also from Gerard Horan as publican and reluctant Morris dancer Wesley, Alan David as the befuddled Professor, and, playing the wistful songbird Phaedra, Eleanor Worthington-Cox (who, when *Jerusalem* last stormed the West End, was starring as one of the original [Matildas](https://www.londontheatre.co.uk/show/305-matilda-the-musical "Matilda the Musical")). 

Ultz’s detailed once again set mixes natural beauty, given a golden hue by Mimi Jordan Smith’s ethereal lighting, with mouldering rubbish. Wild and whimsical, uproarious and desolate, Butterworth’s play is still a mighty force of irrepressible live theatre. 

[*Jerusalem is at the Apollo Theatre to 7 August.*](https://www.londontheatre.co.uk/show/23938-jerusalem "Jerusalem")

*Photo credit: Mark Rylance (Photo by Simon Annand)*

'Jerusalem' review — Mark Rylance's titanic performance is one for the ages

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The Time Traveller's Wife

The Apollo Theatre opened on 21 Feb. 1901. The theatre is named after the Greek god of the arts, and was built to house musical theatre productions.

The late 20th-century saw many plays at the Apollo Theatre, including *Separate Tables* starring John Mills, *Mrs Klein* starring [Zoe Wanamaker](https://www.londontheatre.co.uk/actor-profile/zoe-wanamaker), and *A Madhouse in God* starring [Vanessa Redgrave](https://www.londontheatre.co.uk/actor-profile/vanessa-redgrave).

During a performance of the Olivier Award winning play [*The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time*](https://www.londontheatre.co.uk/show/the-curious-incident-of-the-dog-in-the-night-time) on 19 Dec. 2013, a large section of the ceiling collapsed, potentially caused by the heavy rain London had experienced that week, and 88 people were injured. 

Recent shows at the Apollo Theatre include *Jerusalem* starring Mark Rylance, and the West End premiere of *Everybody's Talking About Jamie.*

## Apollo Theatre Seating Information

The auditorium has three levels – Stalls, Dress Circle and Grand Circle. The Stalls seats offer excellent views of the stage. Views in the outer seats are hindered by the overhang of the Dress Circle.

The Dress Circle seats may offer little legroom and little raking in the seating. The last two rows of seats sit on a higher level and offer better views than those in front.

The Grand Circle has a shallow ranke. The last two rows of seats are also built up higher.

Jez Butterworth’s Jerusalem to return to London in 2021 with Mark Rylance

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