Jerusalem (play)

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Jerusalem

Poster for Jerusalem
Written by Jez Butterworth
Date premiered 2009
Place premiered Royal Court in London
Original language English

Jerusalem is a play by Jez Butterworth that opened at the downstairs theatre of the Royal Court Theatre in London in 2009. The production starred Mark Rylance as Johnny 'Rooster' Byron and Mackenzie Crook as Ginger. After receiving rave reviews its run was extended. In January 2010 it transferred to the Apollo Theatre.

Synopsis

On St. George's Day, the morning of the local county fair (deriving its sense of place and community from the annual carnival week at Pewsey, Wiltshire[1][2]) Johnny "Rooster" Byron, local waster and modern day Pied Piper, is a wanted man. The council officials want to serve him an eviction notice, while his son, Marky, wants his dad to take him to the fair, Troy Whitworth wants to give him a serious kicking and a motley crew of mates want his ample supply of drugs and alcohol.[3][4] The play makes frequent allusions to Blake's eponymous poem from which its title is derived.

Characters

Jerusalem has a cast of around 14; some of the main characters:

Johnny 'Rooster' Byron – opinionated eccentric ex-daredevil and teller of fantastically improbable stories, he has a young son whom he rarely sees, and lives in a caravan in the local woods holding parties where he gets drunk and supplies drugs, some of them to under-age kids

Ginger – pathetic underdog of the group, he is older than the others who hang around with Johnny, never having grown out of the lifestyle. He aspires to be a DJ, but is in fact an unemployed plasterer

the Professor – vague and whimsical, the elderly professor spouts philosophical nothings and unwittingly takes LSD

Davey – young teenage abbatoir worker who is best friends with Lee, and visits Rooster regularly for free drugs and alcohol. He can't stand the idea of leaving Wiltshire

Troy Whitworth – local thug, the same age as Ginger; his stepdaughter, who it is strongly implied he sexually abuses, goes missing in the play; he badly beats Johnny up at the end of the play

Lee – young teenager, he enters the play having been hidden in the sofa asleep after about 15 minutes; he plans to emigrate to Australia the next day, despite having little money to take with him

Phaedra – Troy's stepdaughter, she is seen at the beginning of both Act One and Two singing the hymn Jerusalem dressed in fairy wings, and her disappearance is referred to; it is only at the end of Act Two that it is revealed that she is actually hiding in Johnny's caravan

Pea and Tanya – two local girls who emerge from underneath Johnny's caravan, having fallen asleep drunk there

Dawn – Johnny's ex-girlfriend and mother to his child, though she disapproves of his lifestyle; having spent some time with him she relapses and kisses him, but there is no reconciliation

Marky – Johnny's six-year-old son

Wesley – the local pub landlord, he is involved in the festivities for St George's Day and has been roped in to doing the Morris Dancing

Linda Fawcett and Luke Parsons – the council officials

Productions

2009 Royal Court

The premiere of the play was at the Royal Court Theatre in London. The staging involved live chickens, a live tortoise and goldfish and several real trees surrounding an onstage caravan.

It was directed by Ian Rickson and starred Mark Rylance as Johnny, Mackenzie Crook as Ginger, Alan David as the Professor, Tom Brooke as Lee, Danny Kirrane as Davey, Gerard Horan as Wesley and Barry Sloane as Troy Whiworth, Aimee-Ffion Edwards as Phaedra.

It received very positive reviews all round;[5]

there are several of the Royal Court's trademark "in your face" shock tactics and an exceptionally high swear word count even by the exacting standards of the address, this rich three-hour play is also tender, touching, and blessed with both a ribald humour and a haunting sense of the mystery of things. —The Daily Telegraph

Jerusalem is a bold, ebullient and often hilarious State-of-England or (almost) State-of-Olde-England play...[Johnny] is a shrewd, bold, defiant, charismatic, even mesmeric man born out of his time. Imagine King Arthur reincarnated as a troll and you have something of the quality he brings to the debased pastoral he grittily, comically and finally mournfully inhabits —The Times

Jez Butterworth's astonishing new play – an invigorating, yelping, defiant portrait of 21st century shires England —The Daily Mail

2010 West End

Following a successful run at London's 380-seat Royal Court theatre, Jerusalem transferred to London's West End at the 796-seat Apollo Theatre for a limited 12-week season from 28 January 2010, closing on 24 April 2010. This resulted in its first negative review. Tim Walker in the Sunday Telegraph wrote of the character of Rooster: "With his chest out and his head back, lined up in a vertical line with his bottom, the actor does indeed resemble a rooster. The problem with the term 'local personality', however, is that it is all too often a polite euphemism for a crushing bore, and three hours in Rooster's company does prove to be something of an endurance test." Rylance went on to win the Olivier Award for Best Actor for his performance.[6]

2011 Broadway

Jerusalem opened on Broadway on 21 April 2011 at the Music Box Theatre, following previews from 2 April 2011. It was scheduled to play a limited season until 24 July 2011, and then got a four-week extension (to 21 August[7]). Mark Rylance reprises the role of Rooster, with Mackenzie Crook and most of the original Royal Court cast also transferring.[8] The full cast for the production was announced on 17 February 2011, with John Gallagher, Jr., Max Baker, Geraldine Hughes and Richard Short joining the show.[9] The play received a Tony Award nomination as "best play", but lost to War Horse (although Rylance won the Best Actor award).[10]

2011 return to West End

After its Broadway engagement, Jerusalem returned to the West End in London, playing at the Apollo from 8 October 2011 until 14 January 2012.[11] Again, reviews were raving, with The Daily Telegraph critic Charles Spencer giving it five stars (out of five), describing Mark Rylance as "an actor of indisputable greatness, giving the most thrilling performance it has ever been my privilege to witness."[12]

2014 San Francisco

In January 2014, Jerusalem had its west coast premiere at the San Francisco Playhouse in San Francisco, California. The first professional production of the play without the involvement of playwright Jez Butterworth,[13] the play garnered positive reviews, with San Francisco Examiner critic Jean Schiffman lauding Brian Dykstra's "enthralling, complex portrayal" of Johnny 'Rooster' Byron.[14]

Micky Lay

The character of Johnny 'Rooster' Byron was based on retired builder Micky Lay; he died in December 2013.[15]

Notes

  1. ↑ "Actors give tips of trade to Pewsey school". Wiltshire Gazette and Herald. 18 June 2009. Retrieved 24 October 2009. 
  2. ↑ Briscoe, Joanna (30 October 2010). "Sod's lore". The Guardian. p. R11. 
  3. ↑ http://www.doollee.com/PlaywrightsB/butterworth-jez.html
  4. ↑ Butterworth, J. Jerusalem, Nick Hern Books, London, 2009
  5. ↑ http://www.royalcourttheatre.com/whatson_reviews.asp?play=544
  6. ↑ Arifa Akbar, "From a play without a venue to a first for the Olivier Awards" The Independent (22 March 2010).
  7. ↑ Itzkoff, Dave (25 May 2011). "‘Jerusalem’ Gets Four-Week Extension on Broadway". The New York Times. Retrieved 25 July 2011. 
  8. ↑ "Rylance Brings JERUSALEM to Broadway; Previews Begin April 2 at the Music Box Theatre" Broadwayworld (20 December 2010).
  9. ↑ http://broadwayworld.com/article/John_Gallagher_Jr_to_CoStar_in_JERUSALEM_Full_Cast_Announced_20110217
  10. ↑ "Who's nominated?". American Theatre Wing's Tony Awards. 15 June 2011. Retrieved 19 June 2011. 
  11. ↑ "Jerusalem (West End)". Royal Court Theatre. Retrieved 26 July 2011. 
  12. ↑ Telegraph review 17 October 2011
  13. ↑ "Playwright Butterworth juggles stage and screen"
  14. ↑ ‘Jerusalem’ casts magical spell at SF Playhouse
  15. ↑ "Jerusalem: Inspiration behind hit West End play dies". BBC News. 2 January 2014. Retrieved 2 January 2014. 

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