JERUSALEM.
London.
JERUSALEM
by Jez Butterworth.
Transfer from Royal Court Theatre to:
Apollo Theatre Shaftesbury Avenue.
Mon-Sat 7.30pm Mat Thu & Sat 2pm.
TICKETS: 0844 412 4658.
www.jerusalemtheplay.com
or:
020 7565 5000.
www.royalcourttheatre.com
Review: Timothy Ramsden 25 July at Royal Court (Jerwood Theatre Downstairs).
Green and pleasant turf wars in strongly-imagined new play.
It’s a crazy, mixed-up play, and so it should be. Jez Butterworth doesn’t do neat solutions. Parked in English woodland, amid English trees, Johnny Byron’s metallic caravan is surrounded by a nightmare cocktail of broken furniture seeing out its last days, a drum from goodness-knows-where and, for whatever purpose, an air-raid siren. With his occasional late-night raves, Johnny is the neighbour from hell, spoiling the new-build English heaven only a fraction of a mile away. Except, to him, it’s the society they represent, materially-minded and tidied-up, that’s creating a hell on earth.
Various people visit him, attracted by his free lifestyle and reasonably-priced drugs. He accepts them all, including the Professor, the inside of his head muddled with facts, the outside wreathed in a circlet of flowers, like the later-act King Lear, And young Lee (Tom Brooke), about to set off for wider horizons in Australia but unable to afford a final drug. Or the girls from the estate, including May Queen Phaedra, who’s gone walkabout, an elfin figure sad her reign’s ending. Teenage girls from the houses nearby put up there, apparently without his knowledge.
But this free way of life’s about to crash into the barriers of the law and local opinion. In the third of Butterworth’s acts Johnny suddenly appears in conventional clothing. But it’s local revenge not official eviction that catches up with him.
Defiant, creative, untruthful, inspiring, his anger is always open, an explosive expression of his personality, not the sneaky bullying or official proceduralism he encounters from others. In his ramshackle, imperfect way he’s a creator of a community that includes anyone of good intention, without being anyone’s fool.
If Jerusalem’s large scale allows future productions around Britain it will be interesting to see how well it survives without Ian Rickson’s excellent direction and these fine performances. Mark Rylance has an inner intensity that seems to show Johnny’s mind cranking into its own gear before coming out with joke, story or riposte. Mackenzie Crook’s a finely laid-back, self-styled DJ loping around with ineffable passivity. Brooke and Alan David’s serenely distracted Prof are outstanding too.
Phaedra: Aimee-Ffion Edwards.
Ms Fawcett: Sarah Moyle.
Mr Parsons: Harvey Robinson.
Johnny “Rooster” Byron: Mark Rylance.
Ginger: Mackenzie Crook.
The Professor: Alan David.
Lee: Tom Brooke.
Davey: Danny Kirrane.
Pea: Jessica Barden.
Tanya: Charlotte Mills.
Wesley: Gerard Horan.
Dawn: Lucy Montgomery.
Marky: Lewis Coppen/Lenny Harvey.
Troy Whitworth: Barry Sloane.
Danny Whitworth: Dan Poole.
Frank Whitworth: Greg Burridge.
Mayor’s Wife (voice over): Mary Roscoe
Distant voices: Valerie Bird, Andrew Bowker, members of Dynamo Youth Theatre, Havant
Director: Ian Rickson.
Designer: Ultz.
Lighting: Mimi Jordan Sherin.
Sound: Ian Dickinson for Autograph.
Composer: Stephen Warbeck.
Dialect coach: Charmian Hoare.
Assistant director: Natalie Ibu.
Assistant designer: Mark Simmonds.
2009-08-03 02:31:59