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Jez Butterworth’s play Jerusalem opens with the recitation of two verses of the patriotic English hymn penned by William Blake. As the title and the opening would suggest, the play is an exploration of English identity, but it approaches it through a strikingly singular lens – that of the character of Johnny ‘Rooster’ Byron, an anarchic, anti-hero who is a thorn in the side of the established authorities and many of the local residents of the fictional west-country town of Flintock. Byron’s caravan squats illegally in Rooster Wood, and local youth come to him seeking drugs, drink and escape from their constrictive lives, in the way of successive generations of young people. Rooster represents a practical challenge to the peace of the town, and to the idea and values of modern English society.

Jerusalem was greeted by extraordinary acclaim when it premiered at the Royal Court theatre in London in 2009. The rapturous response to that production was directed at both the play and the astounding performance by Mark Rylance in the lead role of Rooster Byron. Jerusalem became a landmark theatrical event, acquiring a kind of mythical status as one of those once-in-a-lifetime moments in live theatre for those who were lucky enough to have been there. As it turns out, it was not a singular moment, because the show has been revived this year in London’s West End with almost entirely the same cast, including Rylance, and directed once again by Ian Rickson. It is appropriate that we mark the 50th episode of our podcast with a play that is undoubtedly one of the high-water marks of our time. The revival provides us another chance not only to revisit or discover this sensational theatrical experience, but also to explore the enduring qualities of the play itself. What is it about this text that weaves such magic upon us?

To answer this question and more about Jerusalem, I am joined today by someone who has been fortunate enough to have seen both incarnations of the play, and also studied the work of Jez Butterworth in great depth. He is David Ian Rabey, who is Emeritus Professor of Theatre and Theatrical Practice at Aberystwyth University where he taught for 35 years. He is also the author of The Theatre and Films of Jez Butterworth, published by Bloomsbury in 2015.

The Footnotes to our episode on Jerusalem include thoughts on the choice of Byron for Rooster’s surname, his retinue of Lost Boys, and the wonders of the stagecraft in the play and London production.

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Douglas