By Ian Diddams
Images by Gail Foster
What is reality? Is it the cold light of everyday activities? Is it the symbiosis of contemporary time and ancient natural forces beyond our ken? Is it the raddled memories of mind altering drugs? Or is it a mixture of all of those combined, as personal perception sways between LSD flashbacks, inexplicable encounters, and simple bullshit?
Next Stage Theatre Company bring Jez Butterworth’s 2009 play “Jerusalem” to The Mission Theatre, Bath, this week. In a thinly disguised setting of Pewsey (Wiltshire), which is named Flintock but where the pubs names are all real pubs, the play centres on the character of Johnny “Rooster” Byron (Richard Chivers) who along with other characters in the play are based on actual Pewsey-ites, some of which still live in Pewsey today.
The story is a twenty-four hour period of Byron’s life, focussed on fair day on St. George’s day, and his interactions with his loyal friend Ginger (Sam Fynn), various hanger-on young people (“rats” as he calls them) Davey (Bryan Mulry), Pea (Sophia Punt), Lee (Jonathan Taft), Tanya (Miranda Webb), the senile Professor (Dave Dunn), somewhat dodgy publican Wesley (Brian Hudd), ex-girlfriend Dawn (Tania Lyons), local council officials intent on evicting him Mrs Fawcett (Tania Lyons) and Mr. Parsons (Andrew Ellison), Byron’s son Marky (Spike Fynn), and the lost teen Phaedra (Dilys Hughes) and her angry dad Troy (Andrew Ellison).
As the course of the day and night unwind, we experience Byron’s warped vision of his world as he tells ridiculously tall and impossible tales interspersed with somewhat surreal anecdotes and harsh truths. We see he is a very flawed character – he is in no way a hero, and very much an anti-hero. His criminal and abusive nature is laid bare, where he despises everyone that surrounds him, even his longest lasting and loyal friend Ginger… with the exception of Marky his son, who he shows genuine affection for (while avoiding any paternal commitment), the Professor and seemingly fifteen year old Phaedra – about whom we are left with a rather disturbing suspicion as to their underlying relationship.
The set is wonderfully portrayed as a clearing in “Roosters Wood”, all ramshackle a mess as you could possibly imagine as an illegal encampment of a broken down caravan’s site surrounded by old garden implements, wood burning stove, boxes and crates, woodland detritus and the remains of Byron’s own drug addled vandalism amongst other assorted accoutrements. Ann Ellison directs the show with an exquisite touch over the banality and failure of Byron’s life – as well as creating the set along with Brian Fisher – and the performance though lasting over three hours rattles along at such a high pace there is never a dull moment. Neat little touches abound – as characters get drawn into Byron’s world, they become coated in straw and woodland detritus, while Byron himself stays clean of these. It is telling that as Lee is to leave Flintock for pastures new far away he is clean of all this woodland connection. Even the Professor ends up covered in straw as his own senile alternative reality merges seamlessly in the renegade aura of the campsite.
Tech is provided by Kris Nuttal, Brian Howe, and Andrew Ellison as they set the scenes of bright morning, sun dappled afternoon and dark and threatening evening. No spoilers here but some cleverly worked backlighting towards the end relieves the audience of unpleasantness while leaving nobody with any doubt as to what is happening. Vanessa Bishop leads costume to perfectly place the setting in the modern day.
Which leads us then back to the actors. A lovely mix of ages as befits the story, all sell their characters believably. I was so drawn in at one stage it was a jolt when I realised that I was watching a work of fiction, and this wasn’t “real” – so kudos to the company for creating a fully immersive environment here. Richard Chivers is quite simply superb as the thoroughly egocentric but dangerous Byron. Sam Fynn is wonderful as his lifelong and lost, almost desperately childlike, sidekick Ginger. The “teens” of Jonathan Taft, Bryan Murphy, Sophia Punt and Miranda Webb believingly display youthful male exuberance and teenage slapper. Dave Dunn portrays the heart tearingly sad bewildered and confused doddery old man. Brian Hudd is cringingly excellent in his portrayal of the seedy and low-level dodgy publican who is really no different to the teens while in his own way abusing them as much as Byron is.
Spike Fynn gets Marky spot on as a conflicted nine year old … “Do I love my dad? Do I like my dad even? Do I trust my dad?”. He sells his character precisely through his physical acting as much as Butterworth’s lines. Tania Lyons and Andrew Ellison double up their parts seamlessly – to the extent that especially for Tania I hadn’t even realised she played two parts until I checked the program after the show! And Dilys Hughes as Phaedra is quite sublime… ethereal, fairy like, other worldly… and even when that dreamy existence comes crashing into real life, she still keeps an entirely child like innocence despite our suspicions that what happened in Byron’s caravan may not be so innocent…
So – back to reality. Or various versions of it. From fairies and elves, tall tales and taller creatures, nature’s ancient powers. Drugs. Dreams. Cognitive breakdown. Youthful inexperience and ignorance. Bullshit. All of these variations feature prominently in Jez Butterworth’s powerful text, culminating in Byron’s final monologue as his life crumbles around him and he calls upon everything in his warped mind to help him as he subconsciously seeks an answer to the big question, which he has already passed the point of rationalising…
What IS reality?
“Jerusalem” by Jez Butterworth is performed by Next Stage Theatre Company at The Mission Theatre, Bath between January 21st to 24th at 7.30pm, with a matinee on Saturday at 2 pm.
Tickets from https://www.missiontheatre.co.uk/tickets or on the door if any left.
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