Jez Butterworth famously stated that he disliked commercial reproductions of his plays (e.g. via DVD), comparing them to hearing about a dinner party anecdote through a friend, though not actually being present. The alchemy of live theatre cannot be surpassed, though perhaps, a screening in the majestic and salubrious lecture hall at the Victoria and Albert museum (where Charles Darwin once lectured) is not a poor second choice. ‘Jerusalem’ is part of the trio of plays that A level students study for the theatre studies written module, though as the hall could seat over 100, we opened the screening to other students of literature and the wider Humanities cohort who could attend and witness this iconic production.

This play seems to divide audiences; its fans swear that it is a state-of-the-nation play, representing the disenfranchised millennium youth spear-headed by an enigmatic rebel who has created a hedonistic community at the heart of ‘Rooster’s Wood’. Others find Johnny Byron frustrating; an absentee father and washed out alcoholic stumbling around a wood.  As audience members we are torn between empathising with Johnny’s chaotic and itinerant lifestyle, yet questioning whether the environment he creates for fifteen-year-olds is actually safer than the disturbing homes they have left.

Clashes with the officious officers from Kennet and Avon Council underpin the whole play as Johnny Byron faces eviction to make way for the ‘new estate’. At its heart, ‘Jerusalem’ is an achingly funny play. The disparity between the po-faced councillors and Johnny’s lack of respect for them as well as humorous characters such as Davey (who works in an abattoir) and feels dizzy if he leaves the county.

The original cast of actors including Mackenzie Crook (Ginger) and Mark Rylance (Johnny) caused eager audience members to sleep outside the theatre in a bid for tickets. The play speaks to our desire to belong and paradoxically to escape as members of Johnny’s microcosmic world come and go and view Johnny as part talisman or a replacement paternal figure.  The title of the play is inspired by William Blake’s poem ‘Jerusalem’ which draws upon Jesus’ apparent visit to celebrate England’s ‘green and pleasant’ countryside which ultimately the council wishes to destroy. Johnny, a raconteur reminds us of the importance of myth and mysticism which our culture seems to have neglected as well as the importance of preserving natural spaces.

In of my favourite speeches in Act 111, just before he is evicted, Johnny describes witnessing a young girl walk into the forest in the cold dawn, ‘take all her clothes off, wrap her arms round a broad beech tree and give birth to a baby boy’.  The play celebrates the oral tradition of passing down remarkable tales and a ignites a desire to abandon all consuming technologies and return to an atavistic and natural world.

Seeing the drama unfold with a phenomenal naturalistic set (complete with mobile home) and an iconic cast was a rare treat and really helped the theatre students with refining how they would direct / perform the characters in the production.