Prisoner Group Hops A Train Revival to West End

A company dedicated to working with prisoners and ex-prisoners will stage the first West End revival of Jesus Hopped the A Train, American Stephen Adly Guirgis’s 2000 prison drama about two convicted murderers. The new Synergy Theatre Project production will have a limited season from 7 to 24 April 2010 (preview 6 April) at Trafalgar Studios 2.

Set in New York’s notorious Riker’s Island prison, Jesus Hopped the A Train is “an extraordinarily brutal study of faith, redemption and despair”, which follows the two men who, while in protective custody, struggle with who they are and what they’ve done.

First presented Off-Broadway by LAByrinth Theatre Company and directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman, the Hollywood actor and LAByrinth artistic director, the play had its European premiere at the Edinburgh Fringe, where it won a Fringe First in 2001, before receiving its London premiere at the Donmar Warehouse and then transferring to the West End’s Arts Theatre in 2002 (See News, 9 Apr 2002).

The cast for the Synergy production includes ex-prisoners and prison professionals, including one who spent four years as an officer in HMP Brixton. They are Ricky Copp, Ricky Fearon, Denise Gough, Theo Jones and Dominic Taylor.

Jesus Hopped the A Train is directed by Esther Baker, artistic director of Synergy Theatre Project. The company was founded in 2000 with the aim of helping to rehabilitate prisoners and ex-offenders. Working with prisoners and ex-prisoners, it produces shows both in theatres and within prisons, delivers education projects for young people and new writing initiatives to develop playwrights in prison.