David Ian Rabey Archives - The Play Podcast

050 – Jerusalem, by Jez Butterworth

by Douglas Schatz | Jul 18, 2022 | Podcast Episodes

Jerusalem at the Apollo Theatre, London 2022
Charlotte O’Leary – Tanya
Mark Rylance – Johnny ‘Rooster’ Byron
Mackenzie Crook – Ginger
Kemi Awoderu – Pea
Ed Kear – Davey
Photo by Simon Annand

050 – Jerusalem, by Jez Butterworth

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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.

David Ian Rabey

David Ian Rabey is a dramatist, director, performer and Emeritus Professor of Theatre and Theatre Practice at Aberystwyth University, where he taught for 35 years, until 2020. Prior to this, he started his career as Lecturer in English and Drama at the University of Dublin, Trinity College.

David has published numerous books on modern British and Irish theatre, including Theatre Time and Temporality (2016), English Drama Since 1940 (2003), and in-depth studies of specific dramatists: The Theatre and Films of Jez Butterworth (2015), Howard Barker: Ecstasy and Death (2009), David Rudkin: Sacred Disobedience (1997), Howard Barker: Politics and Desire (1989) and, most recently, Alistair McDowall’s POMONA (2018). He has published additional essays on these dramatists, and others, including: debbie tucker green, Ed Thomas, Ron Hutchinson; and on contemporary Gothic drama.

He is Artistic Director of Lurking Truth/Gwir sy’n Llechu Theatre Company, for which he has written six plays, the first four of which are published in the volumes: The Wye Plays (2004) and Lovefuries (2008). A third volume is intended.

Recommended Play

David recommended Pomona by Alistair McDowell

We have footnotes for this episode …

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.

Footnotes for Patrons

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Douglas

The Texts

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113 – Arcadia by Tom Stoppard

Aug 21, 2026 | Podcast Episodes

Published 24th August

Tom Stoppard’s 1993 play, Arcadia is viewed by many as his finest play, renowned for the breadth of its intellectual interrogations and its formal invention. The play is a structural masterpiece of ideas, as well as a teasing detective story, joyous comedy, and emotionally rich exploration of love and loss.

As we record this episode a wonderful new production of Arcadia is playing at the Duke of York’s theatre in London’s West End, following its acclaimed run at the Old Vic theatre earlier this year. I am delighted to share the challenge and the pleasure of exploring Stoppard’s dazzling drama with the director of the new production, Carrie Cracknell.

112 – Glengarry Glen Ross by David Mamet

Jul 27, 2026 | Podcast Episodes

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David Mamet’s modern American classic, Glengarry Glen Ross, is a blistering commentary on the cut-throat reality of the American dream, and its poisonous impact on those who have bought into the myth and machismo of that dream. The play had its world premiere in the small Cottesloe theatre at the National Theatre in London in September 1983, and was first performed in New York the following year, winning the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Mamet also wrote the extended screenplay for the star-studded 1992 film version.

As we recorded this episode a new production of the play was playing at the Old Vic theatre in London, with an all-female cast. This is a particularly provocative idea, because one of the primary themes of this play is masculine identity, and the salesmen in this Chicago office do not hold back in their display of machismo.

To explore Mamet’s unflinching slice of 1980s dog-eat-dog capitalism, I am joined by arts journalist Mark Lawson.

111 – The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui by Bertolt Brecht

Jul 2, 2026 | Podcast Episodes

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Bertolt Brecht’s ‘gangster spectacle’, The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, is both an exuberant and funny piece of theatre, and a chillingly topical political satire. Set in the 1930s Chicago of Al Capone, Brecht presents a parody of the rise of Hitler through the character of the gangster Arturo Ui. The play is a universal cry for vigilance against the rise of unscrupulous, populist leaders who threaten democratic societies and global peace.

As we recorded this episode a new production of the play by the Royal Shakespeare Company was playing in Stratford-upon-Avon, starring Mark Gatiss as the title character.

I am delighted to be joined by both the show’s translator, playwright Stephen Sharkey, and by Brecht scholar, Professor Tom Kuhn, to guide us through Brecht’s political parody.

David Ian Rabey

by Douglas Schatz | Jul 18, 2022 | Contributor

David Ian Rabey

Podcast Episode(s)

JERU22_372-L-r-Charlotte-OLeary-Tanya-Mark-Rylance-Johnny-Rooster-Byron-Mackenzie-Crook-Ginger-Kemi-Awoderu-Pea-and-Ed-Kear-Davey-Web

050 - Jerusalem, by Jez Butterworth

Recommended Play(s)

David recommended Pomona by Alistair McDowell