Review: Jerusalem, Lace Market Theatre

Lace Market Theatre seasons invariably seem to end on a high. This one is no exception. Jez Butterworth’s acclaimed Jerusalem has already been a big hit in London and New York; and this production does it justice and more.

In a strong piece of direction, Roger Newman, fields fourteen actors, all of whom are at least good, some of whom are excellent, and one of whom, Andy Taylor as central character Jonny “Rooster” Byron, is quite brilliant.

And it’s a remarkable set from Mark James: a cluttered illegal encampment in the Wiltshire woods incorporating, along with the bottles, empty cans and smashed-up television, a real caravan.

When the action opens Rooster is facing eviction, forcible or otherwise, by the authorities; and by the end it’s clear that he’s about to go down struggling. In between he’s visited by hangers-on, low-lifers and ne’er-do-wells of both sexes for drugs and alcohol; and by a violent heavy who wants revenge. By way of contrast, Rooster’s ex-partner and young son, almost the only normal people in the play, also drop by.

It’s a profane, witty and complex text ranging from the crudely scatological to the lyrical with nods to Shakespeare.

Jerusalem is also thematically rich. It happens on St George’s Day, the day of the local pageant and country fair; and the whole thing is shot through with myth and legend and allusions to a pre-Christian Celtic religion that’s alive and well. Rooster and Co are anachronistic throwbacks fighting a rear-guard action against mass conformity – one of them previously bought some weed from Rooster with a tardis-like tortoise he’s nicked from his sister.

Performances from John Parker as the terrifying tough Troy, and Tamzin Grayson as Dawn, Rooster’s ex, are outstanding. Tom Orton’s Ginger, gormless and inadequate, is enjoyable if a bit over-emphatic; and Hugh Jenkins is good as Wesley, a morris dancer who doesn’t want to be a morris dancer.

Andy Taylor’s portrayal of Rooster, barred from every pub in Flintstock, is remarkable. He’s actually a gipsy, a pikey, with big earrings and black make-up, full of heroic pathos. And he’s articulate, especially when he launches into one of his frequent tall stories. This is a closely observed performance.

At over three hours with the break, Jerusalem could do with a little editing. But, operating as it does at various levels, it’s a complex and richly rewarding play. And this production is a winner.

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JERUSALEM
Nottingham Lace Market Theatre

Written by Jez Butterworth, this is definitely a play of two halves, the second half noticeably longer than the first. I heard a couple of people saying that it could have been shorter, but where, and what do you cut, and how would that affect the flow of the story I ask.

"Jerusalem" is the story of Johnny "Rooster" Byron, a gypsy who lives in a run down caravan in Rooster's Wood and the council's attempts to evict him from his home so that they can bulldoze the place to build more housing. It's also the story really of Johnny and his "friends" who hang with him, "Ginger", Lee, Davey, the girls and the local landlord, Wesley, and the lifestyle they share with "Rooster"

In the first half we find out all about "Rooster" and the camp site friends and is a much jollier affair all round, but come part two, the play takes on a darker mood and several veiled themes are hinted at. By doing that, it gets your mind working and allows your imagination to take over the possible history of Rooster. It may have been all innocent, then again.....

"Rooster" was played marvellously by Andy Taylor, introducing a slightly softer side in the scenes with his son, Marky, played throughout the week by the two young actors Jamie Luft and Peter Daly. Apart from the softer side, Andy drew out the storyteller in Rooster, most of those stories being of the tall variety, but very entertaining stories none the less. You have to admire Rooster in his dogged fight against the authorities to hold on to what he considers to be his.

Some excellent supporting roles from Damian Frendo as Lee, Chris Reed as the accordion playing Davey, Francesca Lawson as "Pea", Hannah Lily as Tanya and Tom Orton as "Ginger" the part time DJ. I hate to say I have favourites in the cast as, especially in this production, everyone was so entertaining but I really did enjoy the comedy of Tom Orton's "Ginger".

Other supporting roles which were just as enjoyable as the others came from Clare Choubey and Gordon Parsons as the council workers Ms Fawcett and Mr Parsons and  another wonderfully comic performance by Richard Fife as The Professor. With John Parker as the bully Troy, Hugh Jenkins as Wesley and Tamzin Grayson as Rooster's wife/ex partner/ mother of Marky, Dawn.

You will love the set complete with caravan and woodland surroundings, this has to be the best scenery I've seen on The Lace Market stage so a great big pat on the back for set designer Mark James. Great props made the scenes believable and a constant sound effect loop of the distant Wessex County Fair as part of the play's St George's Day Pageant also helped create a reality for the time period and event, thanks to Gareth Morris.

I always find that the Lace Market Theatre also have the knack of getting those regional accents just right so a nod to whoever the voice coach was for this particular Wessex based play.

Brilliantly directed by Roger Newman, this is another entertaining play in what is becoming a longer line of entertaining plays from the beaten track and not so well known writers, and again, one really worth seeing for the humour as well as the intense scenes later on in the second part.

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Award-winning Jerusalem comes to the Lace Market Theatre. Gareth Morgan takes a look at this stirring examination of English Life.

Jez Butterworth, writer of recent Tom Cruise vehicle Edge of Tomorrow and award-winning play Mojo, wrote Jerusalem in 2008. It went on to sell out the Royal Court for months and punters would arrive in the early hours of the morning to camp out for return tickets. It won the 2009 Evening Standard Best Play Award and toured to New York. This is about as hyped as popular new playwriting gets, and it's another piece of big programming for the Lace Market Theatre.

A modern hymnal to the free spirits of England on a mid-April day in darkest Wiltshire, the driving force behind Jerusalem is Johnny "Rooster" Byron; a Pied Piper and Falstaff for the North Wessex Downs. Rooster's Wood, where his rundown caravan takes its repose, is as old as the land, lying on lay lines from Stonehenge to Glastonbury. From this rural camp the former daredevil liberally doles out a cocktail of booze, drugs and folk tales - the legends of old Albion - to his assembled gang of outcasts. Yet on the day we meet Byron, the day of the local St George's Day fair, he faces eviction from his encampment. With a new des-res estate being built just 400 yards from the wood, time and patience are running short for the charming anarchist and revelling wild man.

The play is The Archers on acid and is sparkling in its wit and just how funny it is. It's coarse but in a way that never feels unnecessary. It's impossible to review Jerusalem and not praise the actor playing Rooster. Andy Taylor's performance was fun and fresh - his story telling is deft and trips along, especially when he talks about meeting giants off the A429 or being abducted by four Nigerian traffic wardens. He plays both the allegorical story of Rooster the man and Rooster the emblem of England well too, from the man who once leapt rows of double-deckers on a motorbike to the king of a now dwindled empire - a ramshackle caravan in the woods where his supposed friends film him on their phones, drunk and soaked in his own piss. No man is an island, but Taylor's Rooster comes to resemble one.

Others that deserve a mention are Tom Orton's stomping and spaced-out Ginger and the enjoyably loutish Davey, played by Chris Reed. The real standout however, beyond Rooster, is Richard Fife as the Professor. A senile academic looking for his lost dog and unwittingly tripping on LSD, his quotations and poetic ramblings draw into focus how many of the iPhone generation dismiss these rural idylls - as something for the pages of the library, along with the Venerable Bede. In contrast, Hugh Jenkins' plodding Wesley could do with better pacing in his lines and delivery, but does pull off his Morris dancing with aplomb.

A huge part of the production though is the design. The set, created by Mark James, is visually stunning and includes an actual caravan and trees plus all of Rooster's collected detritus. The most is made of this brilliant design with by being well lit too by Hugh Philip. Technically-speaking, this is the most accomplished the Lace Market Theatre has been, with the sound design also adding to the whole feel.

The other star is Butterworth's script, and the gentle poetry of the title is not lost in the writing. The play truly is a "walk upon England's mountains green". The literary allusions run deep. England, a great nation of writers, is a palette that Butterworth draws from and there are nods not only to Blake but to other Romantics, to John Clare and of course to Shakespeare, St George's Day being the birthday of the bard. Even Rooster's surname, Bryon, is that of our Newstead poet. It's an historically rich piece: Rooster's antecedents are the Levellers, Diggers, Luddites and Swing rioters, our own Robin Hood, and Arthur Seaton. When Rooster gives advice to his nine year old son, saying: "School is a lie. Prison's a waste of time. Girls are wondrous. Grab your fill... Don't listen to no one and nothing but what your own heart bids. Lie. Cheat. Steal. Fight to the death. Don't give up. Show me your teeth," you can't help but hear Sillitoe too.

Jerusalem is fantastic piece of theatre and boldly produced by The Lace Market Theatre. It's the anti-Little Englander that rails against Blake's "dark satanic mills". It throws together so much of our collective culture from bacon sandwiches and tea hangover cures to the cucumber sandwich brigade, from Morris dancing to Girls Aloud, and the hedonism of raves in the wood and getting pissed up at the local fair. As an example of modern life in our "green and pleasant Land" there's few better (save maybe a copy of LeftLion) and for a cracking community production you'd be hard pressed to find better too. For an evening of "this sceptred isle … this England" in Nottingham this week, it's worth getting to the Lace Market.

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