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Jerusalem
“An instant modern classic” – Daily Telegraph
“One of the most exciting new plays in ages” – New York Times
“Jez Butterowrth’s gorgeous, expansive new play keeps coming at its audience in unpredictable gusts, rolling from comic to furious, from winsome to bawdy” – Observer
A Comic, contemporary vision of rural life in England’s green and pleasant land.
On the morning of the local county fair, Johnny Byron is a wanted man. Local officials want to serve him an eviction notice, his son wants his full attention, and his motley crew of friends wants his ample supply of booze…
After its 2009 premiere at the Royal Court Theatre, London, Jerusalem won the Evening Standard Award for Best Play in 2009 and transferred to the West End in 2010. It opened on Broadway in April 2011 at the Music Box Theatre, with Mark Rylance reprising his award-winning performance as Byron.
Jez Butterworth is the author of The River, Mojo, The Night Heron, The Winterling, Parlour Song and Jerusalem . He has won numerous awards for his work, including the E. M. Forster Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He lives in Somerset, England.
“One of the most exciting new plays in ages” – New York Times
“Jez Butterowrth’s gorgeous, expansive new play keeps coming at its audience in unpredictable gusts, rolling from comic to furious, from winsome to bawdy” – Observer
A Comic, contemporary vision of rural life in England’s green and pleasant land.
On the morning of the local county fair, Johnny Byron is a wanted man. Local officials want to serve him an eviction notice, his son wants his full attention, and his motley crew of friends wants his ample supply of booze…
After its 2009 premiere at the Royal Court Theatre, London, Jerusalem won the Evening Standard Award for Best Play in 2009 and transferred to the West End in 2010. It opened on Broadway in April 2011 at the Music Box Theatre, with Mark Rylance reprising his award-winning performance as Byron.
Jez Butterworth is the author of The River, Mojo, The Night Heron, The Winterling, Parlour Song and Jerusalem . He has won numerous awards for his work, including the E. M. Forster Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He lives in Somerset, England.
114 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2009
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 190 reviews
December 14, 2011
Notgettingenough and I went to this critically acclaimed play a couple of nights ago at the West End. I watched the whole thing with rapt attention; Not, as she sometimes does, took a short nap halfway through. I imagined this would give me an advantage during the post-mortem, but I should have known better.
"So what did you think it was about?" she asked as we left the theatre.
"Um, dunno," I said. "Maybe a metaphor for the current state of England? I mean, here we are, rotten to the core, served with an eviction notice and a few hours to vacate the property, but we think our charm and verbal brilliance will somehow let us sneak out of it..."
"Was he supposed to be a Christ-figure?" interrupted Not, impatient with my slow mental processes.
I hadn't been alert, and as usual I'd failed even to consider the possibility. Just because Rooster Byron is a drunk who's banned from every pub in town and supplies the local kids with illegal substances while telling them preposterous lies and getting a few of the prettier girls pregnant, it hadn't crossed my mind that he might also be Jesus. Verily, the Day of the Lord cometh as the thief in the night: maybe we wouldn't recognise Him this time either, a theme James Blish also took pleasure in exploring. So how strong is the case here?
There was certainly a lot of camouflage. You wouldn't necessarily expect Christ to put a glass of tea-and-vodka down the front of his stained pants, cheat at Trivial Pursuits or recount off-colour jokes about having sex with the whole of Girls Aloud. But, just as with Lisbeth Salander, there were surprisingly many hints once you started looking for them. Why does everyone love the old reprobate so much, even the woman from the council who pins the eviction paperwork to the door of his grubby trailer? Why is he able to spread a mysterious joy and peace to so many people? (He drives a good many more mad with rage, but Jesus did that too). He claims to be a virgin birth, after an incident where a local philander is caught in flagrante and shot through the scrotum and the bullet, after multiple ricochets, ends up in his mother's panties. He's tortured and branded with a cross-shaped branding iron. But he rises again, and, at the end, he - maybe - summons heavenly assistance. And then of course there's the title.
It's a daring hypothesis, and Google turns up few other people who've had the same thought. Even though I still can't quite believe it, kudos to Not for lack of conventional religious prejudices. And whatever the message, it's definitely worth seeing.
"So what did you think it was about?" she asked as we left the theatre.
"Um, dunno," I said. "Maybe a metaphor for the current state of England? I mean, here we are, rotten to the core, served with an eviction notice and a few hours to vacate the property, but we think our charm and verbal brilliance will somehow let us sneak out of it..."
"Was he supposed to be a Christ-figure?" interrupted Not, impatient with my slow mental processes.
I hadn't been alert, and as usual I'd failed even to consider the possibility. Just because Rooster Byron is a drunk who's banned from every pub in town and supplies the local kids with illegal substances while telling them preposterous lies and getting a few of the prettier girls pregnant, it hadn't crossed my mind that he might also be Jesus. Verily, the Day of the Lord cometh as the thief in the night: maybe we wouldn't recognise Him this time either, a theme James Blish also took pleasure in exploring. So how strong is the case here?
There was certainly a lot of camouflage. You wouldn't necessarily expect Christ to put a glass of tea-and-vodka down the front of his stained pants, cheat at Trivial Pursuits or recount off-colour jokes about having sex with the whole of Girls Aloud. But, just as with Lisbeth Salander, there were surprisingly many hints once you started looking for them. Why does everyone love the old reprobate so much, even the woman from the council who pins the eviction paperwork to the door of his grubby trailer? Why is he able to spread a mysterious joy and peace to so many people? (He drives a good many more mad with rage, but Jesus did that too). He claims to be a virgin birth, after an incident where a local philander is caught in flagrante and shot through the scrotum and the bullet, after multiple ricochets, ends up in his mother's panties. He's tortured and branded with a cross-shaped branding iron. But he rises again, and, at the end, he - maybe - summons heavenly assistance. And then of course there's the title.
It's a daring hypothesis, and Google turns up few other people who've had the same thought. Even though I still can't quite believe it, kudos to Not for lack of conventional religious prejudices. And whatever the message, it's definitely worth seeing.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 10, 2014
Absolutely loved it, I guarantee it'll be considered a masterpiece in years to come. It certainly deserves to be. Oh how I wish I could have seen the play performed when it was in London (it's currently on Broadway with Mark freaking Rylance) just to get the full impact of the story. Jez Butterworth's crafted a completely bonkers but highly enjoyable tale, equal parts hilarious and tragic and always very powerful. It's a vision of the real England of the 21st century in a small town that hangs onto tradition for the sake of tradition while everyone tries to cope with the changes. Rooster may not be a nice man, and sometimes he's very unlikeable, but he's a fascinating man, a complete powerhouse of tales, delusions and a fool-like clarity that reminded me of Shakespeare's most famous fool, Falstaff. A man viewed in equal parts with admiration and mockery by everyone around him, he has a view of the world nobody else has and he'll fight to the end to keep it that way. People lament the loss of the England of old but Butterworth questions whether that national identity ever existed. The teenagers that hang around his trailer hoping to score some drugs or alcohol enjoy his company and laugh at his increasingly ridiculous tales (the telling of stories is a key element of the play) but Rooster is also a cautionary tale, one that none of them want to end up like. He's the twisted daredevil Pied Piper, one they want to follow despite their common sense.
The first two parts of the play are hilarious, packed full of creatively profane language and pop culture references, painting a picture of an England more concerned with parties and drinking than any sense of patriotism. It's setting the story up for the inevitable fall, one that must and will happen. It's a strange play, often surreal and ridiculous and definitely not for everyone, but there's something undeniably fascinating about Jerusalem. Part parable, part social commentary, part updated Shakespearean tragi-comedy, it's a mish-mash of perfectly organised chaos. There's a cutting intelligence behind the Cheryl Cole jokes and frequent use of the 'c' word, one that exposes the hypocrisy of hanging onto old traditions whilst exposing the real England. Packed full of iconic English imagery and metaphors, it's one that definitely requires a reread (and a national tour please!)
Here's a trailer for the Broadway production: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fcp4mw...
The first two parts of the play are hilarious, packed full of creatively profane language and pop culture references, painting a picture of an England more concerned with parties and drinking than any sense of patriotism. It's setting the story up for the inevitable fall, one that must and will happen. It's a strange play, often surreal and ridiculous and definitely not for everyone, but there's something undeniably fascinating about Jerusalem. Part parable, part social commentary, part updated Shakespearean tragi-comedy, it's a mish-mash of perfectly organised chaos. There's a cutting intelligence behind the Cheryl Cole jokes and frequent use of the 'c' word, one that exposes the hypocrisy of hanging onto old traditions whilst exposing the real England. Packed full of iconic English imagery and metaphors, it's one that definitely requires a reread (and a national tour please!)
Here's a trailer for the Broadway production: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fcp4mw...
December 3, 2020
I go through phases of reading film or stage scripts from time to time as you get to see your own version of the performance in your mind’s eye. Besides, it’s the only way to read the works of, say, Arthur Miller, Harold Pinter or Tennessee Williams who did not write novels.
And so it is with Jez Butterworth, whose comedy, Jerusalem, was first performed to high acclaim in 2009 at the Royal Court Theatre in London with Mark Rylance in the lead role of Johnny ‘Rooster’ Byron – a former fairground motorcycle ‘jumper’ fallen on hard times, living in a derelict caravan in a Somerset forest and making ends meet with drug dealing whilst surrounded by local stragglers and teenage girls. Unsavoury to say the least. The story circles round his last-stance attempts to defend his sacred little piece of England against imminent Council eviction.
This is a clever, witty and learned script full of nuances that I think might be missed in live performance due to the speed of the dialogue. I cannot quite imagine Mark Rylance playing this rough character – for which he won a Tony Award – as I will forever see him as the charismatic Thomas Cromwell in Wolf Hall. He is, apparently, due to reprise the role in a revival of the play this summer in London’s West End (restrictions allowing) which will be worth looking out for.
And so it is with Jez Butterworth, whose comedy, Jerusalem, was first performed to high acclaim in 2009 at the Royal Court Theatre in London with Mark Rylance in the lead role of Johnny ‘Rooster’ Byron – a former fairground motorcycle ‘jumper’ fallen on hard times, living in a derelict caravan in a Somerset forest and making ends meet with drug dealing whilst surrounded by local stragglers and teenage girls. Unsavoury to say the least. The story circles round his last-stance attempts to defend his sacred little piece of England against imminent Council eviction.
This is a clever, witty and learned script full of nuances that I think might be missed in live performance due to the speed of the dialogue. I cannot quite imagine Mark Rylance playing this rough character – for which he won a Tony Award – as I will forever see him as the charismatic Thomas Cromwell in Wolf Hall. He is, apparently, due to reprise the role in a revival of the play this summer in London’s West End (restrictions allowing) which will be worth looking out for.
March 31, 2022
Unfortunately I didn't like this play as much as The Ferryman. Hard to symphatise with any character. Read on goodreads about the theory of Rooster as a parabel for Christ and it very well could be the case. Nonetheless not really my cup of tea.
June 3, 2018
After seeing Jez Butterworth's magnificent play, The Ferryman, in London recently, I asked the friend who had urged me to go to recommend another of his plays. Hence, I ordered Jerusalem, read it, read it again, and then forced myself to wait two long days to read it once more. It is quite simply stunning—achingly sad in places, and outrageously funny in others. Gorgeous writing.
August 16, 2019
I did enjoy this, but I think I would have got much more out of it if I'd seen the play.
May 3, 2022
what the fuck Julia
June 9, 2024
this book honestly hit me hard. it was extremely funny and witty, yet also devastating and sad. the exploration of isolation and relationships honestly really hit and affected me, there was definite deeper layer to this play which really resonated with me.
4⭐️
“The world turns. And it turns. And it moves and you don't. You're still here.”
4⭐️
“The world turns. And it turns. And it moves and you don't. You're still here.”
March 20, 2012
Jerusalem strains very hard for an effect it never manages to achieve, leaving us with the occasional amusing story, but far, far too much time spent with the sort of tedious drugheads whose presence in a play is meant to give us the feeling that what we are watching is 'edgy' and 'daring', but which can't help but be as boring as someone telling us "how out of it I was last night". The attempt to link the main character to the myths of old England never convinces and the play - which also tries very hard to be relevant to the moment by including many references to recent pop culture - will quickly become outdated. " England's green & pleasant Land" may, in many ways be a desperate place today but Butterworth fails to find the cry of its despair.
May 5, 2022
all fucking day
February 20, 2022
afresh afresh afresh a molotov cocaine cocktail shotputted from Lands End to Devizes
February 2, 2023
Jez Butterworth, amen.
July 19, 2025
interesting but johnny is not a christ like or pied piper figure please that’s just a criminal bum living in the damm woods and no the blood donation does not redeem him
May 29, 2025
Recommended to me by the screenwriter and actor Rob Heyland.
An interesting play! Cantankerous characters, outrageous scenes, speech seasoned with swearing but overall I thought it lacked some substance. There's definitely a great play in there and I love Butterworth's idea- the allusions to the Bible and to myth are extremely clever and I think the reasons I didn't enjoy the play enough to give it four or five stars are the same reasons someone would!
You cannot help but be drawn towards the mysterious character Rooster Byron is and the culture he represents. I grew attached to ginger and there are well written characters that act as allegory's in many ways. There are many interesting lenses to look at this play through and I enjoyed reading it but I was left wanting a bit more.
May potentially actually watch the play at the end of summer so that may change my perspective seeing it performed live.
An interesting play! Cantankerous characters, outrageous scenes, speech seasoned with swearing but overall I thought it lacked some substance. There's definitely a great play in there and I love Butterworth's idea- the allusions to the Bible and to myth are extremely clever and I think the reasons I didn't enjoy the play enough to give it four or five stars are the same reasons someone would!
You cannot help but be drawn towards the mysterious character Rooster Byron is and the culture he represents. I grew attached to ginger and there are well written characters that act as allegory's in many ways. There are many interesting lenses to look at this play through and I enjoyed reading it but I was left wanting a bit more.
May potentially actually watch the play at the end of summer so that may change my perspective seeing it performed live.
November 5, 2017
‘Jerusalem’ won best play of the year in 2009 but surely we’ve moved on? Isn’t there something hypocritical about middle-class theatre-goers laughing their heads off at the losers in society and feeling chuffed for not denigrating them - drug addicts whose every crass sentence includes a four-letter word and who wallow in chicken-shit - when in real life most people in the audience would shoo them away if they came anywhere near their homes? The scene is a gypsy drug-dealer’s caravan in a copse on the outside of town where teenagers can hang out and get high without complaint – and that’s the plot. I am grateful that Jez Butterworth has dropped Pinter’s influence with his newest and truly great play, The Ferryman.
Freak Out! My Life with Frank Zappa
Freak Out! My Life with Frank Zappa
February 13, 2020
I guess this needs to be seen on stage and not read.
As a text it's really hard to get through, the language is too colourful and the characters too unpleasant.
It's well crafted and pops off the page, but to what end? As I understand, it's meant as a state of the nation play, but whatever the deeper meanings are, it all went over my foreign head.
As a text it's really hard to get through, the language is too colourful and the characters too unpleasant.
It's well crafted and pops off the page, but to what end? As I understand, it's meant as a state of the nation play, but whatever the deeper meanings are, it all went over my foreign head.
November 26, 2022
not gonna lie, i didn’t jive with it as much as my class seemed to, but I have a feeling seeing it live would change my opinion (cause it seems like it could be a banger on stage)
January 9, 2023
Loud, crude and magical. A midsummer night's dream with a cast of drug dealers and wasters. Brilliant.
February 4, 2025
Last read this 11 years ago in college and it’s still as good as it was back then! Great play, one i’d love to see one day!
June 6, 2018
I love this play. Saw Rylance in it and he was superb. Brilliant opening scene. Looking forward to seeing it again at the Watermill, Newbury soon.
September 18, 2024
ive been studying this for english lit and we finally finished it!! i definitely would've enjoyed this more if id actually seen the play but it was still good and definitely has been very interesting to write about so far
September 3, 2015
An extraordinary play--big. bold, and beautiful. Butterworth is an extraordinary talent (his play "The River" is also a fine effort even if it does not rise to the level of this) who is particularly good at layering the quotidian world on top of a mythic, at times almost Jungia, subtext. I would have loved to have seen Mark Rylance in this play--as all reviews indicated, I'm sure he was amazing.
June 15, 2016
I read this book for university because it is a rather famous contemporary play and I expected something completely different than what the title promises. That didn't keep me from reading it within 2 days but that was more due to the pace of the story. It all happens so fast, so much information, so many characters and their stories and everything just on one day. You basically cannot stop reading because you think you might miss something.
September 3, 2017
4.5, rounded up. Had I not just read Butterworth's most recent play, 'The Ferryman', I might have been tempted to rate this a full 5; however, it does not QUITE reach the heights of that masterpiece, and I had a wee mite of difficulty with some of the lingo and references here that made it a slow go at times. I can still see why it was a huge success, and can just picture the award-winning Mark Rylance running away with the lead character.
December 9, 2022
Reread this because the glimmers of magic and supernatural haunt me. It’s an incredible piece of drama.
One of my favorite plays of all time. Reading it brought back Mark Rylance's brilliant performance.
One of my favorite plays of all time. Reading it brought back Mark Rylance's brilliant performance.
July 5, 2019
After reading THE FERRYMAN, I was looking forward to reading this play. Not as good, I'm afraid. Decent characters, but the protagonist is difficult to sympathize with.
March 24, 2020
This was decent, but the whole time I was reading I was thinking about how much more I would enjoy seeing this on the stage. It was so vivid and easy to imagine.
Read
November 16, 2023Hilarious and entertaining script that I'd love to see on the stage!
While principally hugely fun to read, Jerusalem taps into a lot of contemporary political binaries and debates. Critics have argued back and forth over whether Butterworth is left- or right-leaning on the political spectrum, and I'm not going to disclose my opinion on that here. The playwright, when interviewed, said that he didn't intend for the play to be political, that he intended for it to be about community and belonging. It's short-sighted to think that themes of community and belonging can ever be removed from politics. Brexit, in particular, is utterly tied up in the question of belonging. Hence this play has become forever interlinked in the Brexit discourse – do these characters represent the Britain that voted Brexit? They certainly fit the demographic. So, this is one of those art pieces that by attempting to omit parts of societal discourse, has by doing so, unintentionally, implicitly included them.
I found certain themes really interesting, such as anti-globalisation, anarchy, the deconstruction of family binaries, pagan mythology, and loyalty.
Jerusalem shows a side of England that bureaucracy finds embarrassing, and argues that it shouldn't, and can't, be smothered.
It's interesting that Johnny essentially provides a safe space for this side of England to express itself, yet it is also abundant with violence and abuse. The way he abandons his son, the way his friends abandon their loyalty for him when he becomes vulnerable, the way lies and drugs are glamorised, and the way women are ruthlessly sexualised. It's like a microcosm of anarchy. It represents the parts of Britain that aren't pretty, but inevitable. And Johnny and the gang refuse to progress with the rest of society, for better or for worse.
Unfortunately, especially for a play released in 2009, the representation of women is really poor. Female characters are stereotypes, props; not fleshed-out characters. The young girls have more voice than older women do, but only because they are heavily sexualised and can weaponise this. Fawcett is the only woman with any true agency and she has been forced to express herself with a lot of masculinity. It's no coincidence that she represents the state, the red tape.
While principally hugely fun to read, Jerusalem taps into a lot of contemporary political binaries and debates. Critics have argued back and forth over whether Butterworth is left- or right-leaning on the political spectrum, and I'm not going to disclose my opinion on that here. The playwright, when interviewed, said that he didn't intend for the play to be political, that he intended for it to be about community and belonging. It's short-sighted to think that themes of community and belonging can ever be removed from politics. Brexit, in particular, is utterly tied up in the question of belonging. Hence this play has become forever interlinked in the Brexit discourse – do these characters represent the Britain that voted Brexit? They certainly fit the demographic. So, this is one of those art pieces that by attempting to omit parts of societal discourse, has by doing so, unintentionally, implicitly included them.
I found certain themes really interesting, such as anti-globalisation, anarchy, the deconstruction of family binaries, pagan mythology, and loyalty.
Jerusalem shows a side of England that bureaucracy finds embarrassing, and argues that it shouldn't, and can't, be smothered.
"JOHNNY: (...) Kids love drinking. Always did. They either sit in the bus stop, shivering their b*llocks off, or they go to yours [the bar], or they come here. Everyone knows what they're up to, all the mums and dads. Why? Because they did the same f*ckin' thing, and younger. There's not one mum or dad round here could come here and say they weren't drinking, smoking, pilling and the rest when they was that and younger. And sh*gging too. Like cats in a sack."
It's interesting that Johnny essentially provides a safe space for this side of England to express itself, yet it is also abundant with violence and abuse. The way he abandons his son, the way his friends abandon their loyalty for him when he becomes vulnerable, the way lies and drugs are glamorised, and the way women are ruthlessly sexualised. It's like a microcosm of anarchy. It represents the parts of Britain that aren't pretty, but inevitable. And Johnny and the gang refuse to progress with the rest of society, for better or for worse.
Unfortunately, especially for a play released in 2009, the representation of women is really poor. Female characters are stereotypes, props; not fleshed-out characters. The young girls have more voice than older women do, but only because they are heavily sexualised and can weaponise this. Fawcett is the only woman with any true agency and she has been forced to express herself with a lot of masculinity. It's no coincidence that she represents the state, the red tape.
October 9, 2024
“So don’t ever worry, because anywhere you go. If you’re ever short. Back to the wall. Remember the blood. The blood.”
I watched the Sam Mendes-directed The Hills of California twice already on Broadway. Both times, I wept. The first viewing, I took advantage of the 2-for-1 ticket offer; second viewing, I scored some free tix through school! I tweeted about it after the first time, and then the show itself used my praise for sponsored content — I love that they did, I wouldn’t mind if they sent me a hat or a t-shirt or something :)
Anyway, that masterpiece of a show was written by the Tony-winning playwright Jez Butterworth. Separately, my Technique teacher Josh brought up the character Johnny “Rooster” Byron from Jerusalem in class as a firecracker role; a character that perhaps doesn’t learn anything. I don’t remember if that’s exactly what he said, but Johnny is such a tragic, sad character. But I suppose it depends? Maybe he really gets stuff more than us; but he numbs himself so much with the hard drugs and liquor, and while he has a natural empathy for the burnouts and outcasts of rural Britain (and is salvation for some young people who are most likely being abused in their family homes), it still takes a toll. Whatever Johnny needed to “learn” he simply knows already; and knowledge is a curse for him.
“School is a lie. Prison’s a waste of time. Girls are wondrous. Grab your fill. No man was ever lain in his barrow wishing he’d loved one less woman. Don’t listen to no one and nothing but what your own heart bids. Lie. Cheat. Steal. Fight to the death. Don’t give up. Show me your teeth.”
There are some rich, meaty dialogue exchanges here. Frequently funny, at times vicious. There are a few truly grounded moments, and the first time we meet Johnny’s ex-wife Dawn and his estranged six-year-old son, the whole idea of that scene, and how loaded & pissed Johnny was during it — it’s so sad. Would’ve been incredible to see Mark Rylance perform this role.
“I’m heavy stone, me. You try and pick me up, I’ll break your spine.”
Johnny’s a chaotic man, but at least he’s not a hypocrite. He’s been beaten down numerous times in life, but he’s got the spirit to keep rising up. However, it’s so sad to witness how used he is to being beaten down; he’s a masochist and wants the pain. His way of living is harming his body (from being a stuntman to then donating his special blood every six weeks). He’s posturing just as much as everyone else; he tries his best to be perceived as tough, hard, all-knowing. When people try to tear him down, it doesn’t really affect him, tragically. Maybe it’s because he’s drunk out of his mind, but I believe he already knows. And there’s nothing he can, or is willing to do to change that.
“And even if you gets us all killed today, at least we’ll all show up in Heaven pissed. Cheers!”
I watched the Sam Mendes-directed The Hills of California twice already on Broadway. Both times, I wept. The first viewing, I took advantage of the 2-for-1 ticket offer; second viewing, I scored some free tix through school! I tweeted about it after the first time, and then the show itself used my praise for sponsored content — I love that they did, I wouldn’t mind if they sent me a hat or a t-shirt or something :)
Anyway, that masterpiece of a show was written by the Tony-winning playwright Jez Butterworth. Separately, my Technique teacher Josh brought up the character Johnny “Rooster” Byron from Jerusalem in class as a firecracker role; a character that perhaps doesn’t learn anything. I don’t remember if that’s exactly what he said, but Johnny is such a tragic, sad character. But I suppose it depends? Maybe he really gets stuff more than us; but he numbs himself so much with the hard drugs and liquor, and while he has a natural empathy for the burnouts and outcasts of rural Britain (and is salvation for some young people who are most likely being abused in their family homes), it still takes a toll. Whatever Johnny needed to “learn” he simply knows already; and knowledge is a curse for him.
“School is a lie. Prison’s a waste of time. Girls are wondrous. Grab your fill. No man was ever lain in his barrow wishing he’d loved one less woman. Don’t listen to no one and nothing but what your own heart bids. Lie. Cheat. Steal. Fight to the death. Don’t give up. Show me your teeth.”
There are some rich, meaty dialogue exchanges here. Frequently funny, at times vicious. There are a few truly grounded moments, and the first time we meet Johnny’s ex-wife Dawn and his estranged six-year-old son, the whole idea of that scene, and how loaded & pissed Johnny was during it — it’s so sad. Would’ve been incredible to see Mark Rylance perform this role.
“I’m heavy stone, me. You try and pick me up, I’ll break your spine.”
Johnny’s a chaotic man, but at least he’s not a hypocrite. He’s been beaten down numerous times in life, but he’s got the spirit to keep rising up. However, it’s so sad to witness how used he is to being beaten down; he’s a masochist and wants the pain. His way of living is harming his body (from being a stuntman to then donating his special blood every six weeks). He’s posturing just as much as everyone else; he tries his best to be perceived as tough, hard, all-knowing. When people try to tear him down, it doesn’t really affect him, tragically. Maybe it’s because he’s drunk out of his mind, but I believe he already knows. And there’s nothing he can, or is willing to do to change that.
“And even if you gets us all killed today, at least we’ll all show up in Heaven pissed. Cheers!”
December 1, 2025
So, I'm thinking of writing a play. But before I do I want to read a handful of the best plays - that I haven't already read or seen. I found a list. I think from The Guardian. Then I went through the list and marked up the ones I'd already read and the ones I already owned but hadn't read. Then I went through Libby and Ealing Library services to see which ones they had. Thus did Jerusalem by Jez Butterworth fall into my lap courtesy of Libby.
This is a three act play on the matter of England. A subject on which I have cogitated much over the last month whilst reading books about the Great War. One subject that has been calling to me is the woods. Ancient English woodland, of which little is left. Which is a consequence of a 18th and 19th century naval building programme and the industrial revolution. Wood burns. Reading David Jones' In Parenthesis, which ends with the Queen of the Woods and Memetz Wood, has put woodlands front and centre.
There is something magical about woodland. Something special. Oddly, whilst reading this play, I was thinking of the Queen of the Woods and of Robert Holdstock's 'Mythago Wood'. A novel that I recommend and that is again about the secrets of woods. That reminded me of 'The Dark Between the Trees' by Fiona Barnett, which I haven't yet read but plays on the deep of woodland.
All of which is to say that I felt the touch of these books (and others) in this play, which at first glance might seem odd. But there's definitely something mythical - and chaotic - about Johnny who is at the centre of this play. He might just be a pisshead drug dealer and mixing with various gaggles of strung out teenagers with nothing much else to do in 21st century England. But he might be Robin Hood or the Green Man.
Perhaps I'm giving Johnny too much credit. Perhaps he's just a wastrel, a thug, a right royal pain in the arse. But that never stopped Pan or Dionysius.
All of which is to say I loved this play. I'm gutted I never saw it at the theatre when I had the chance because I bet it is a glorious watch. The problem, of course, with reading a play - and the older the play the more this is an issue - is that this isn't what they are. They're not novels. They're more a kind of poetry, especially when they're verse plays. Obviously. But Jez Butterworth's writing has a spark that even off the page you can get joy out of it.
Next up in my play list (boom, boom) is Shakespeare's The Tempest, which doesn't seem like it is a million miles from this play. Except perhaps Johnny is Caliban.
Perhaps I'm thinking about this all a little too much? But then what's a brain for if it isn't to overthink things.
This is a three act play on the matter of England. A subject on which I have cogitated much over the last month whilst reading books about the Great War. One subject that has been calling to me is the woods. Ancient English woodland, of which little is left. Which is a consequence of a 18th and 19th century naval building programme and the industrial revolution. Wood burns. Reading David Jones' In Parenthesis, which ends with the Queen of the Woods and Memetz Wood, has put woodlands front and centre.
There is something magical about woodland. Something special. Oddly, whilst reading this play, I was thinking of the Queen of the Woods and of Robert Holdstock's 'Mythago Wood'. A novel that I recommend and that is again about the secrets of woods. That reminded me of 'The Dark Between the Trees' by Fiona Barnett, which I haven't yet read but plays on the deep of woodland.
All of which is to say that I felt the touch of these books (and others) in this play, which at first glance might seem odd. But there's definitely something mythical - and chaotic - about Johnny who is at the centre of this play. He might just be a pisshead drug dealer and mixing with various gaggles of strung out teenagers with nothing much else to do in 21st century England. But he might be Robin Hood or the Green Man.
Perhaps I'm giving Johnny too much credit. Perhaps he's just a wastrel, a thug, a right royal pain in the arse. But that never stopped Pan or Dionysius.
All of which is to say I loved this play. I'm gutted I never saw it at the theatre when I had the chance because I bet it is a glorious watch. The problem, of course, with reading a play - and the older the play the more this is an issue - is that this isn't what they are. They're not novels. They're more a kind of poetry, especially when they're verse plays. Obviously. But Jez Butterworth's writing has a spark that even off the page you can get joy out of it.
Next up in my play list (boom, boom) is Shakespeare's The Tempest, which doesn't seem like it is a million miles from this play. Except perhaps Johnny is Caliban.
Perhaps I'm thinking about this all a little too much? But then what's a brain for if it isn't to overthink things.
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