Town Hall Theatre’s first IN THE WINGS staged reading of the 2019-20 Season is a one-night only performance of THE RIVER, a lyrical and mysterious new play about a man and a woman (or women, possibly), and fishing, by Tony Award winner Jez Butterworth. … a magnetically eerie, luminously beautiful psychodrama.” – Time Out (London) In his subtly crafted play, THE RIVER, playwright Jez Butterworth sets the story in a remote cabin on the cliffs beside a river. The Man has invited The Woman there, and he longs to share with her the ecstatic excitement of fishing for trout that night, a once-a-year moonless night. Darkness, the sound of the rushing river and lights come up on the Man calling the police about a woman who has gone missing while fishing. He is interrupted by a door banging and The Other Woman enters, seemingly having exchanged places. Are we witnessing some kind of ritual enfold? Are we watching a ghost story, a thriller or an elegy? “A wonderful play, glinting and elusive as a fish.” – Financial Times THE RIVER is directed by Matthew Travisano and features three Bay Area talents: Erin Gould as The Man, Sarah Ruby as The Woman and Cynthia Lagodzinski as The Other Woman. Performance History Town Hall’s reading is the first time THE RIVER has been heard in the Bay Area. First produced by the Royal Court, London, in 2012, THE RIVER received its North American premiere at the Circle in the Square Theatre in New York in 2014 starring Hugh Jackman, Cush Jumbo and Laura Donnelly. ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT Jez Butterworth is a playwright and screenwriter, actor and film director. His stage plays include Mojo (1995); The Night Heron (2002) and Winterling (2006), both of which premiered at the Royal Court Theatre; Parlour Song (2008), which opened in New York in 2008; the multi-award-winning comedy, Jerusalem (2009; Broadway 2011), which starred Mark Rylance; The River (2012); and The Ferryman (2017; Broadway, 2019 Tony Award Winner for Best Play). Among other awards, he has received two Olivier Awards, three Evening Standard Awards, four Writers’ Guild Awards, and three Critics Circle Awards. Screenwriting credits include Night of the Golden Brain and Christmas (both written with his brother Tom Butterworth); Birthday Girl (2001), which starred Nicole Kidman; The Last Legion (2007); Fair Game; Get On Up (2014); Edge of Tomorrow (2014); Black Mass (2015); and the James Bond film Spectre (2015).