The Hills of California

by Jez Butterworth

Blackpool, 1976. The driest summer in two hundred years. The beaches are packed. The hotels are heaving. In the sweltering backstreets, far from the choc ices and donkey rides, the Webb Sisters are returning to their mother's run-down guest house, as she lies dying upstairs.Jez Butterworth's play The Hills of California was first performed at the Harold Pinter Theatre in London's West End in 2024, directed by Sam Mendes, and produced by Sonia Friedman Productions and Neal Street.

Genres: Plays

122 pages, Paperback

First published February 15, 2024

Reviews

[Harry McDonald · Rating 4 out of 5]

I do agree that it doesn't quite get to the heights of Jerusalem or The Ferryman - but christ the moment where the jukebox switches on and Laura Donnelly makes her entrance to the wails of Gimme Shelter... now that's theatre baby.

[Nadja · Rating 4 out of 5]

As usual when seeing a new Butterworth in the West End, I've read the last act after seeing the performance, so as not to spoil any twists. The first act is a little long and it takes some time to get into the story and the characters. However, the more the story unfolds, the more you care about these people. The Hills of California may not be as packed and punchy as The Ferryman, but it's still a good piece of theatre.

(The Hills of California is playing at the Harold Pinter Theatre until June 15, 2024)

[Doug · Rating 3 out of 5]

Butterfield knocked it out of the park on his last two outings, scoring major hits with Jerusalem and The Ferryman on both sides of the Atlantic - and rightly so. So it pains me to say his latest play - is just kinda 'meh'. Like those last plays, Butterworth goes for epic length (3+ hours) and a huge cast (18 here!) ... but to diminishing returns. The bifurcated storyline is about 4 sisters coming home to attend the final hours of their mother's life, juxtaposed against the time 21 years earlier when said mother tried to foist her daughters' Andrews Sisters tribute act onto a shady promoter. It just feels like it's all been done - and better - before.

https://www.theguardian.com/stage/202...

https://www.timeout.com/london/theatr...

[Jason · Rating 5 out of 5]

Butterworth's work is so deep in its simplicity. The Hills of California is a story of family, of ambition, of dreams deferred, and oh so much more. It will stay with you long after you've finished it.

[Cate Oken · Rating 4 out of 5]

Exciting characters, great writing, and an incredibly moving story. Highly recommend for theatre fans. 4 stars

[Monica · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed that. It wasn’t as powerful as Jerusalem, but that’s pretty impossible to top. Still, I would like to see this.

[Anna Winifred Conway]

So many intricate different relationships going on. What an enjoyable show to dive into & perform.

[Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautifully written account of family dynamics. A very multi-layered script.

[Enyu Hu · Rating 5 out of 5]

this play impacted me very deeply when i saw it in march so i bought the script and now that i've read it i want to see the play again anyone down?

[Ben Greenwood · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ben Reads Plays #7

As you can expect. It’s really really good. It does not pack the punch that the Ferryman or Jerusalem achieved but it finds an emotional depth that feels so real. Couldn’t put it down.

[O · Rating 5 out of 5]

A brilliant play, saw it in London twice. Funny, painful, deep. A masterpiece.

[isa lim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Watched it at the Harold Pinter, bawled my eyes out, cried again reading it

[Kym Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

how long's a piece of string?

[Steven Edmondson]

I couldn't make it down to London because I have a dog and a job so I settled on just sitting down and reading this play instead. I read it in a couple sittings, one of which was outside, on a log, on the beach, while my dog dissassembled - and then it turned out ate a significant part of - a stick.

Not all plays work at all in that mode, and approached in such fashion reveal value not at all. This one does. It's actually so fully realised on the page, not over-burdened with detail but legible, that I found just sitting and reading it felt like a complete experience. I feel, probably entirely foolishly - and meaning no disrespect to the West End mounting's creative team who probably feel like their (absent) contributions to the production hold significant value, like i've seen the play.

Despite not being alive when this play was set, I feel like off the basis of my one and probably only trip to Blackpool in the late 00s like I've been there. My last holiday with my grandpa was to a Blackpool B&B he'd been visiting since the 50s, one long since past it - probably the last place on earth you'd want to be at 14 - but which meant a lot to him. The Blackpool this play describes, which has now been decaying for about as long as anyone can remember, is still there. Just about.

On the page, I think there's two main ways in which this play functions. There's the plot, which is simple: adult children gathering at their mother's deathbed, reflecting on the collapse of her effort to groom them for stardom as a seaside Andrews Sisters rip-off.

There's also the Butterworth-isms - the thematic layers and subtexts that tie it back into his canon - more specifically an interest in 70s singer-songwriters (the way Joan's career is described, her album sounds like exactly the sort of music we heard used in Jerusalem), lower-middle class 20th century British trash culture, and folklore. Joan's encounter with a predator, her mother's attempts to groom her for fame having instead just groomed her for a groomer - is yoked to ritualistic practices, child sacrifice. I think the successful alignment of these three currents - it may be his most balanced play in that sense outside of J - that makes this story feel much, much bigger than it is.

Alos incredibly curious how a new major work from probably the most significant British playwright of his generation, months out from release, has been reviewed in the single digits on here.

[Rusty · Rating 5 out of 5]

I remember the rave reviews when The Hills of California opened on Broadway, and I wish I had gone to see it.

The play is about the 4 Webb sisters, Jillian, Joan, Ruby, and Gloria, being coached by their demanding mother to be the next Andrews Sisters. The play alternates between "then" (1955) and "now" (1976) when three of the girls are back home, with their mother dying of cancer upstairs.

Will the missing sister Joan return? And why did she leave 20 years ago, never to return?

Terrific drama with some brilliant written theatrical moments.

[Tom Holehan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Butterworth's recent play is a seriocomic drama about four sisters reunited at the deathbed of their difficult mother. The playwright plays with time so that the story is divided between the 1950s and 1970s so we see the sisters' younger selves as the grew up in a household equal parts "Gypsy" and "Crimes of the Heart". Moving, very funny in parts, tragic in others. This is superior writing.

[Michaela · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fave recently released play… the line “a song is a place to be, somewhere you can live” rings in my head a lot. Also genius soundtrack and refs … stunning concept and execution I love and hate every character equally yay…. I feel lucky I got to be a perform a mere scene of this play. A very memorable acting and reading experience

[Madeleine Rose Healey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Obsessed with the concept of this, however I did feel the ending was extremely rushed and felt so cheesy to read - maybe my opinion would change seeing it live? I adore Jez Butterworth’s plays in general so loved reading this!

[Bess B · Rating 3 out of 5]

heard good things but was disappointed. long and a bit more tell than show even though I also walked away not feeling like I knew the characters very well but small events. this play can be elevated by great actors, I think.

[Christopher · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had the privilege of seeing this on the West End when it first debuted, and was blown away by it. Reading the script really made me appreciate it even more. One of the best plays ever, well worth a read.

[iz✨ · Rating 2 out of 5]

many questions… some funky stage directions (kushner would be proud) but otherwise it felt like it dragged, had a lot of potential and then didn’t really go anywhere. maybe one of those you have to see to properly get.

[Rebekah Parsons · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.75

[Joel Wall · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some really interesting relationships, but I felt that there was just too much stuff and not enough depth to the play

[Bobby Sullivan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not my favorite play by Butterworth. His reveal moments usually have more impact, but this one was just kinda gross.

[Douglas · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5*

[Steve Mayer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although I loved his other plays, I didn’t like watching this play or reading it for that matter. I didn’t care about any of the characters

[williammorrisfruitpattern · Rating 4 out of 5]

crazy good. doesn’t quite pick up the build after the ending of act two, but sticks the ending.

[Caitlyn DeRouin · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Tim Grimes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent script full of surprises

[Chloe Selavka · Rating 5 out of 5]

If I hadn’t written it I’d say that synonyms for goodbye was plagiarized off this that was crazy