Jerusalem is a modern - day classic that will take you on a roller coaster ride from hilarious comedy through melancholy reflection, rebelliousness, brutal menace and touching intensity. It is an extraordinary tale woven round Johnny ‘Rooster’ Byron who has settled himself in his caravan, in his wood, while generations of teenagers hang out partying, drinking and taking drugs. But now he is a wanted man as council officials serve him an eviction notice on the day of the Flintock Fair. Jez Butterworth’s play raises questions about discrimination and hostility and delivers it within a disappearing magical England of fairies, elves and giants.
Jerusalem raises questions about how contemporary society treats its outcasts. Johnny Rooster Byron has lived in his caravan in a forest for 25 years. He has been recklessly wild, whilst providing a safe haven for his hangers on. The local council and local housing estates now want him rejected from his forest to build houses. Jerusalem raises questions about the change of the cultural landscape. The English landscape means many different things to all of us. The disappearing land due to housing or business development takes with it the character, colour and customs of England. |
Jerusalem raises questions about our Englishness and our mystical heritage. A green and pleasant land where the smell of wild garlic mingles with may blossom, a backdrop for English magic and folklore. Locals live by forests where the fairies live. Is this English magic disappearing under corporate development and a financial driven, fast living culture?
Jerusalem makes us question ourselves. As Paul Kingsnorth pointed out in his book Real England, “We can’t sing our own folk songs or, increasingly cook our own national foods. We don’t know what grows in our local area. We sneer at Morris dancers while we sip skinny lattes. We are cut off from who we are and where we have come from. “ Tonight’s production may raise further questions and it may answer some. It may suggest that we are all much safer in this leafy set of values than with the greed and oppression of the ferocious predators of the new estate, but most of all we hope it does provide an entertainment for you to enjoy. |
“Come, you drunken spirits. Come, you battalions. You fields of ghosts who walk these green plains still. Come, you giants!”