Article Date: 30 January 2017
Article Date: 30 January 2017
The purpose of the trip was to see a filmed version of the ground-breaking 2011 performance of Jez Butterworth’s Jerusalem starring the amazing Mark Rylance as Johnny “Rooster” Byron.
In creating this challenging character, who stands outside society and highlights its corruption and petty hypocrisies, the playwright is posing the question, “What is modern day England and what does it stand for?” The Title is taken from Blake’s famous poem, Jerusalem which although a hymn has been adopted as an anthem by rugby fans. Like Blake, Butterworth challenges the establishment and the status quo and mourns the loss of a way of life connected to Nature and natural Rhythms. The student of the play needs to see Jerusalem in a Literary tradition going back to Ancient Greek drama and also encompassing Shakespearean plays such as A Midsummer’s Night Dream.
Our students gained much from seeing the play in performance and the insights gained will help to raise the standard of A Level work on this text.
