PRODUCTIONS

MASQUE THEATRE ON TOUR

SCARAMOUCHE JONES
Justin Butcher

Fri 17 February 2012 at 7.30pm
Sat 18 February 2012 at 5.00pm
Moulton Theatre
Cross Street, Moulton Map

Wed 22 February 2012 at 7.30pm
Playhouse Theatre,
Clare Street, Northampton Map

Sat 25 February 2012 at 8.00pm
The Nook Café
The Fishmarket, Northampton Map

Scaramouche Jones reveals the loves, brutalities, ecstacies and tragedies
that created his seven white masks.

Happy Days and Scaramouche Jones will be performed as part of the Masque Theatre on Tour mini-season during February 2012. The productions will be staged at three venues in the Northampton area. The tour is part of Masque Theatre's 80th anniversary celebrations.

PREVIEW
Kate Billingham, director

Butcher’s script has certainly tempted the elite: a radio adaptation of Scaramouche Jones with Warren Mitchell was broadcast in 2001 on BBC Radio 4 and the late, great Pete Postlethwaite on stage during 2002. Butcher penned the role for himself in 2000 and finally performed it to wide acclaim at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2008 and thereafter at Adelaide Fringe, 2010.

Richard Jordan has taken on the challenge to play Scaramouche so we’re sure to witness excellent execution of the script with a profoundly moving performance. 

Through the skills of storytelling, this one-man play takes the audience on a rollercoaster of a journey.  Born of a Trinidadian gypsy whore, Scaramouche had an unusually pale face, his mother informing him that his father was an Englishman.  This early childhood is the first of the seven phases of his life or, as he sees them, his seven white masks.

The first five decades of his life take us through Africa, as an assistant to a snake charmer, Egypt, Europe and to the Nazi concentration camps, where he was put to work on digging graves.  As the children passed him on the way to their deaths, he would mime a grotesquely funny scene to them, depicting what was to come, lifting them to laughter and easing their fears.

Finally, he is free to live in England and, as he must have a surname to enter the country, adopts the surname of the immigration official after being convinced by a Welsh passport officer that Jones is true English name. 

As the story unfolds, Scaramouche sheds his well-worn clown suit and the seven masks to become his naked self, to face his end and his beginning.  This is a funny, compelling and beautiful account of coming to terms with a life lived.

The production will be ‘toured’ over two weeks in conjunction with Happy Days using a minimal set at Moulton Theatre, The Playhouse and The Nook.  We are planning double bills with both plays on Saturdays giving the audience an opportunity to see both plays with supper in between.

TICKETS

Please see our page about how to purchase tickets

You get discounted prices for being a Masque Theatre member or patron.
More about joining Masque

Please note that all seats are unreserved.

TICKET PRICES

Fri 17 Feb (Moulton Theatre)
Wed 22 Feb (Playhouse Theatre)
Adults: £8.00
Members: £7.00
Concessions: £6.00

Sat 18 Feb (Moulton Theatre)
Sat 25th Feb (The Fishmarket)
Scaramouche Jones & Happy Days are presented as a double bill. Prices include an interval supper.
Adults: £20.00
Members: £18.00
Concessions: £16.00
Patrons and complimentary ticket holders will be required to pay for their interval supper.

BOOK ONLINE
Limited online booking is available for Sat 25th February performances only. Click here. Tickets can also be reserved by telephone - see our Purchasing Tickets page.

Please note that if you are coming by car, the Mayorhold Car Park closes at 8.30pm. We recommend trying the Ridings or St Peter's car parks.