It was the play that had critics looking for superlatives and audiences queueing out of the door. When Jerusalem opened at London’s Royal Courtroom in 2009, it developed a near-mythical status nearly immediately. And when it transferred to the West Finish after which on to Broadway, the legend was full. Shaggy, rambunctiously comedian and centred on Mark Rylance’s outsized efficiency as Johnny “Rooster” Byron, a Falstaffian ruffian shelling out medication and tall tales to youngsters within the West Nation woods, Jerusalem was a state-of-the-nation play within the strangest sense. It units up a recent England half-drunk on historical past, the place even Rooster’s hangers-on anticipate giants to stand up close to the A14 – and never simply because they’ve popped too many drugs. May any of this be actual? Some even declared it “the play of the century”. To mark its return to the West Finish, six playwrights take into account its energy and legacy – and ask whether or not its titanic status nonetheless stands.
‘I’ve most likely stolen its method’ – James Graham
I noticed Jerusalem in previews, earlier than the decision got here in that it was a historic piece of theatre. However you might inform even then: the best way the viewers reacted was fully joyous. There are all these epic themes, nevertheless it was additionally an enormous quantity of enjoyable: a full and correct evening out. I’ve spent a very long time attempting to know its DNA. I’ve typically used it as a textual content when working with rising writers. For all that it’s so wild and sprawling, it’s very tightly constructed. There’s a linearity of time, uniformity of place, a set group of characters – it’s not fairly Greek, however practically.
I like that Jez Butterworth, its author, signposts the storytelling proper initially: you’ve acquired this man dwelling in a caravan within the woods, the council needs to evict him, and he says: “I’m not going.” You get the dramatic proposition, the stress, the battle – all within the first couple of minutes. I’ve most likely stolen that method a bit. Better of Enemies explicitly signposts the tip on the very starting.
A lot of the scripts I’ve written have been about politics and the corridors of energy. In Jerusalem, the politics are implicit not specific, metaphorical not literal, and I actually admire how daring Jez was with it: right here’s this factor referred to as “Jerusalem”, it’s a self-declared state-of-the-nation play, it’s about Englishness. It takes braveness to try this.
‘Reviving a play about Englishness appears ill-judged’ – Bea Roberts
I acquired a Megabus actually early within the morning from Bristol to see Jerusalem in London’s West Finish. I queued for tickets as early as I may. The one seat I may get was up within the gods, however then I acquired chatting to a woman whose good friend hadn’t turned up, and she or he provided me a seat in her field. It was an unbelievable, delirious, surprising day.
The present made my physique shake: the pounding noise of it, the power of the performances. It was additionally thrilling to see on stage one thing from the West Nation, which remains to be remarkably uncommon. As somebody who grew up there, to me it felt actually genuine: that self-deprecating sense of humour, the jokes about BBC Factors West, a love for the countryside but additionally an acknowledgment of the smallness of that world.
Ought to the play be revived? I’m unsure. I learn the script once more just lately and there’s lots that feels dated: the laddish chat about “birds” and the racial references – will they modify these or at the least acknowledge them? I perceive it’s a protected guess for producers, this huge, much-loved hit – and I cherished it too. However at a time when theatre is grappling with questions of variety and illustration after Black Lives Matter, and once we’re seeing the rise of nationalism post-Brexit, doing a play about defending homeland and Englishness appears ill-judged. Perhaps they’ll be capable to interrogate that, or give it context, however I’m unsure. A lot has modified.
‘Rylance thanked his chiropractor. I perceive why’ – Amy Berryman
I had simply graduated from performing faculty and moved to New York. There was all this buzz about this British play that had landed on Broadway. Everybody appeared to be speaking about it, particularly Mark Rylance’s efficiency as Rooster Byron. So we purchased tickets.
I used to be decided to be an actor on the time, and was primarily it via that type of lens: “How’s he doing that, what’s he doing together with his physique?” It was otherworldly, the best way Rylance remodeled himself into this extraordinary muscular drive. You see a variety of outstanding performances in New York, however this was one thing else. I bear in mind listening to his acceptance speech after he received a Tony for greatest actor – and right here was this beautiful, relatively candy, small man, not this large, epic factor I noticed on stage. He thanked his chiropractor. I feel I perceive why.
As somebody who didn’t develop up in England, I’m positive a few of the references went over my head. However what appealed to me was this sense of its world being so full. And its characters felt common. I bear in mind being completely alongside for the journey.
‘The place is Rooster now? What occurred to the ladies?’ – Atiha Sen Gupta
I by no means noticed Jerusalem the primary time round – I couldn’t get a ticket – so I purchased the textual content and browse it. What struck me was how lyrical and exquisite the writing was: poetic, dense, multilayered. Then there’s the fascinating query of Rooster and how much character he's: we see him as the final word outsider, current on the margins, however we’re additionally deeply drawn to him. I want I’d been capable of see Rylance’s efficiency to determine how – or if – he resolved that.
The play is full of symbols of Englishness, from St George’s Day to maypoles to Spitfires. Some reviewers fondly alluded to Rooster as a metaphor for a misplaced England – a decaying man, a decaying empire. However, as somebody who grew up in Britain in a leftwing Asian household, empire just isn't one thing I've any nostalgia for. The drama has additionally been hailed because the definitive English play within the fashionable canon. Whereas it’s essential to ask, “What or who's England?”, I don’t suppose there’s a single reply. There are various Englands.
A lot as I’d prefer to lastly see it, I'm wondering if, as an alternative of simply reviving Jerusalem with the identical director and a few of the similar solid, a extra attention-grabbing method could be for somebody to jot down a brand new play responding to it. The place is Rooster now? What occurred to the feminine characters, who we don’t hear lots from? How have all of them navigated Brexit and Covid? That may very well be fascinating.
‘I went six occasions. It’s the holy grail’ – Polly Stenham
I used to be engaged on a mission on the Royal Courtroom when Jerusalem was in rehearsals, and there was one thing within the air – a way that one thing actually thrilling was being created. Sooner or later I used to be having a cigarette with one of many crew, a man referred to as Stick who’d been constructing the set, and he stated: “You completely have to see this.” I ended up going six occasions. I made everybody I knew go, even individuals who by no means went to the theatre.
I used to be a reasonably inexperienced author on the time – my second play, Tusk Tusk, had simply been staged – and I discovered a lot from the script. I didn’t realise that you might be epic and grand, but additionally humorous and up-to-date. There’s all that stuff about myths and Englishness, however there’s banter, and gags about Ladies Aloud. Jez is such a beneficiant author: even minor characters get their riffs and arias.
After which the climax, the scene the place Rooster is drumming, incanting the names of spirits and ghosts! As a author, if you happen to can create that sort of power, it’s the holy grail. I feel it’s additionally price saying that the director Ian Rickson, who I’ve labored with subsequently, is so necessary, each in the best way he labored with Jez to assist convey it into existence and the best way it appeared on stage. He’s a correct writers’ director.
Jerusalem wasn’t tidy, it wasn’t excellent, it wasn’t industrial. It was sprawling and wild and harmful – and I felt fully lit up by it. In case you see a handful of performs like that in your lifetime, you’re doing effectively.
‘I felt like I used to be at a Countryside Alliance rally’ – Mark Ravenhill
Jerusalem is old style in one of the best methods: it’s acquired this huge three-act construction, two intervals, three hours-plus. Hardly anybody does that any extra. At first you suppose: “Oh, this can be a type of pastoral comedy.” However then the momentum builds and it turns into this epic state-of-the-nation play. The boldness and craft of that's so spectacular. Jez – whom I’ve by no means met – is a vastly gifted author, completely no query.
And Rylance was definitive. It’s immensely uncommon for one of many biggest actors of their technology to attach with a bit of latest writing: it felt such as you had been watching Laurence Olivier play The Entertainer [by John Osborne] or Anthony Hopkins do Pravda [by David Hare and Howard Brenton].
Nevertheless, I did sense odd issues, too, as a lot within the viewers response as the rest. After I noticed it on the Royal Courtroom throughout that preliminary run, it was summer time 2009. Gordon Brown was in energy and you might sense that it was the tip of the New Labour period. One thing was altering. That picture in Jerusalem of the spirit of England being beneath menace from busybodies and petty bureaucrats – that England has acquired befuddled and stoned, resides in its caravan within the woods, however will rise to its ft and conquer as soon as extra – that appeared to do one thing to the viewers.
We had been in central London, nevertheless it was like being in the course of a Countryside Alliance rally. As I left, I assumed: “The Tories are going to win the following election.”
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