On St George’s Day, the morning of the local county fair, Johnny Byron, local waster and modern day Pied Piper, is a wanted man. The council officials want to serve him an eviction notice, his children want their dad to take them 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.
Jez Butterworth’s play is a comic, contemporary vision of life in our green and pleasant land. His other plays for the Royal Court include The Ferryman (2017), The Winterling (2002), The Night Heron (2006) and Mojo (1995).
Jerusalem opened at the Royal Court in 2009 before transferring to the Apollo Theatre in 2010 and Broadway in 2011.
Jez Butterworth talks to Simon Stephens on the Royal Court Playwright's Podcast
“The fact that they’ve been successful I think has something to do with the fact that they’re not designed to be”
You can hear Jez Butterworth discuss his work in conversation with Simon Stephens on series 3 of the Royal Court Playwright’s Podcast.
“The triumph belongs to Rylance for perfectly embodying Butterworth's vision of a vanished demonic magic”
Michael Billington. The Guardian Read full review
“It is rich, strange and continuously gripping”
Charles Spencer,The Daily Telegraph Read full review
“Jez Butterworth’s ‘Jerusalem’ is the rarest of beasts: a state-of-the-nation play which is a pastoral comedy; an edgy piece of new writing manned by a big and mostly magnificent cast”
Caroline McGinn, Time Out Read full review
“Jez Butterworth's gorgeous, expansive new play keeps coming at its audience in unpredictable gusts, rolling from comic to furious, from winsome to bawdy"
Susannah Clapp, The Observer Read full review
“His [Butterworth’s] comic timing is faultless, and his ability to switch from great comic highs to the deepest of tragic lows is breathtaking”
Jeremy Austin, The Stage Read full review
Extras
The Company
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