Englishness, Girls Aloud, eviction, woods, caravans, Jerusalem, swearing, drugs, violence, alcohol, St George, Wiltshire, West Country, dark comedy.
Time 00’s
Accents West Country, South West England, Wiltshire
Place Wiltshire
 |
| Johnny 'Rooster Byron played by Mark Rylance |
Play Length 1 hr 45mins
Set A caravan set in a copse woodland
Specicify/accent is the play specific to a certain place/dialect/gender/age, or can this be tailored to the actor(s)?
The play is specific to Wiltshire there are many clear indications within the dialogue therefore I would be hard to set the play elsewhere. The same as the accents they must be West Country. Gender roles are very defined. There is much male chauvinism and it would only work if Johnny is played by a man.
Characters 14 (9 males/5 females)
Johnny 50
Ginger 25-40
Professor 50-75
Fawcett 35-45
Parsons 35-45
Lee 20-30
Davey 30-40
Pea 16
Tanya 16
Wesley 40-50
Marky 6
Dawn 30-40
Troy 40-50
Phaedra 15
Synopsis
Jerusalem is an invitation to a day in the life of Johnny ‘Rooster’ Byron, described by locals as a pest, Gyppo, and drug dealer, amongst other names much worse.
Though Johnny is all of the above, there is something very charming, genuine and Greek god like about him, he seems to carry an air of untouchability.
The story is set around Johnny’s caravan in a Wiltshire woodland, which plays host to much partying, drinking, drug taking and frivolity. The characters that visit Johnny are the local waifs and strays of the area, some old timers and some very young. Ginger, Lee, the Professor and others, all seem to have a fondness for Johnny, but it becomes clear as the play progresses that they all have other agendas for being in the woodland. Mainly to score drugs and have a good time.
Johnny is subject to an eviction notice, pinned on his front door by Kennet and Avon Council. After 27 years of ducking the law, dodging taxes and selling drugs from his caravan, he is finally being made to leave. We do not find out what happens to Johnny as the play is left on a cliffhanger, but it does become apparent at the end that his untouchable like nature is false, as he bleeds from a physical beating he receives by locals. The play ends with Johnny blooded and alone, speaking out his ancestors names in the hope that they will come back and protect him from the inevitable eviction that is to follow.
Monologues and duologues etc...
Pages 10-15
Length 4 mins
Character(s) Johnny and Ginger
Type Duologue
Synopsis
This Duologue is a funny exchange between friends, Johnny and Ginger. There is an obvious frustration in Ginger having been the only one of Johnny’s mates to have missed out on a wild night of drugs, beer and Johnny’s usual shenanigans.
Snippet
Ginger: What’s happened here?
Johnny: Where? Nothing.
Ginger: Bollocks....don’t give me that.
Johnny: It was a gathering.
Ginger: Don’t look like a gathering
Johnny: it was impromptu...... look don’t start I’ve got a throbber on.....I thought you were busy.
Ginger: Who said.... (Stops) Fucking.... (Stops) Sex and the City, mate. Fuckin’ Jools Holland then three hours of Pacman on my phone.... I thought we were mates.
Johnny: We are mates....Look if you wanna know the truth....there was a knock on the door....outside are....Girls Aloud....they bum rush me clean across the kitchenette and on to the bed.
Snippet Reference (Butterworth, 2009, pg11-12
Page 12
Length 2 mins
Character(s) Johnny
Type Monologue
Synopsis
Johnny gives a hilarious fake account on what happened to him to prevent him from texting Ginger. Johnny tells the story of pop group Girls Aloud and how they barged into his caravan uninvited, disturbing his spliff and Antiques Roadshow session to sexually assault him against his wishes.
Snippet
Note: The speech is very slightly merged
Johnny: I was minding my own business. Settling in, spliff, Antiques Roadshow, when there’s a knock on the door.....standing outside are five birds off of Girls Aloud....Three hours. Unspeakable acts. Finally I manage to slip out from under Cherry Cole....I slides....in to the bog. By this point the girls....they’re next door riding on each other....That’s all that happened. That’s all you missed.
Reference (Butterworth , 2009, pg12)
Page 31-32
Length 2 mins
Character(s) Ginger
Type Monologue
Synopsis
Ginger tells the funny story of a local daredevil who used to Jump buses.
Snippet
Note: the speech has been merged from two pages of Gingers dialogue. But the story has a beginning, middle and end with interjecting dialogue from other characters.
Ginger: Local Celebrity mate....Broke every bone in his body....then at Flintock fair 1981 he died....mate I was there I saw it with my own eyes....two thousand people at least....’stand clear’. Heart massage. Mouth to Mouth. He’s dead....suddenly everyone turns round and he’s gone, he’s vanished....they follow his trail of blood....up until the beer tent.... where he is stood finishing a pint of Tally-Ho....’Keep the Change love’ and downs it in one. Walks out and walks it off.
Reference (Butterworth, 2009, pg31-31)
Page 33-35
Length 2 mins
Character(s) Johnny
Type Monologue
Synopsis
Johnny discusses how he sneaked in to a town and residents meeting. Johnny is the centre of conversation being described as a ‘Menace’ to the area.
Snippet I went along...snuck in the back in disguise. You get a free cup of tea. Flapjack....tearing their hair out. Everyone gets very red in the face....Kelly Wetherley....Saying ‘Johnny Byron is a filthy menace,’ and I swear to Christ I was Shagging her only last June...every time her husband went away.
Reference (Butterworth, 2009, pg33-35)
Pages 48-49
Length 3 mins
Character(s) Johnny
Type Monologue
Synopsis
Johnny talks about a fictional story about his birth. Saying that he was the birth child of a bullet that killled his cheating father and became lodged in his mother’s womb.
Snippet
Note: The whole speech is merged from two pages with interjecting dialogue from other characters.
Johnny: My Father, Hector Byron...Loves the lasses. One May morning, he says, ‘I’m off for a walk.’ Now his wife knows his ways of old, tracks the old goats tracks up the road...to the door of of her own sweet sister...to find sister bent double on a big brass bed...the wife pulls a pistol...and shoots the wayward lad slap bang in the love bells. The bullet passes clean through...where the bullet hits the number 87 tram...and lodged in my sweet mother’s sixteen year old womb.
Reference (Butterworth, 2009, pg48)
Pages 67-68
Length 1 mins- 1 and half mins
Character(s) Johnny
Type Monologue
Synopsis
Johnny delivers another hilarious story, this one discusses a fictional experience about him being kidnapped by Nigerian Traffic Wardens, where he learns a new found respect for the profession.
Snippet
Note: The speech mostly runs, but has been slightly merged, as Dawn has one line of dialogue in between.
Johnny: Last week was a bad week...I had a run in with four Nigerians...traffic wardens...they start shouting. Saying I pissed on their car...Upshot was, they bundled me in the back...Drove me to this flat...They tied me up in the basement...I learned more about their life...Long days, hard graft, rubbish pay... apart from that, I mustn’t grumble.
Reference (Butterworth, 2009, pg 67-68)
Pages 106-107
Length 2 mins
Character(s) Johnny
Type Monologue
Synopsis
After taking a massive beating, Johnny comes out of his caravan blooded and broken. He stumbles around only to notice Marky, his 6 year old son staring at him. Johnny takes this opportunity to teach Marky about Byron blood, about standing up for himself and never to back down.
Snippet
Johnny: There’s something I’m toning to tell you. You Mum won’t like this...(wipes his nose, shows Marky) See that. That’s blood, not just any blood. That’s Byron blood...I’ve got rare blood, rarest there is. Romany blood. All Byron’s have got it. I’ve got it and you’ve got it too...So don’t ever worry, because anywhere you go. If your ever short. Back to the wall. Remember the blood.
Reference (Butterworth, 2009, pg 106-107)
Pages 108-109
Length 2 mins
Character(s) Johnny
Type Monologue
Synopsis
Johnny places a curse. He calls his Byron ancestors to support him in the battle to keep his land and against Avon and Kennet Council.
Snippet
Johnny: I Rooster John Byron, hereby place a curse upon the Kennet and Avon Council... he who steps in my blood, may it stick to them like hot oil...any uniform which brushes a single leaf of this wood is cursed...(begins to incant) Alfred Byron, Egbert Byron, Oswin Byron...surrender South Wiltshire!...come you battalions. You fields of ghosts...
Reference (Butterworth, 2009, pg108-109)
Links to writer and his plays.
If you wish to purchase Jez Butterworth's, Jerusalem you can find the play on Amazon or at Nick Hearn Books.
Alternatively Please follow the links below:
https://www.nickhernbooks.co.uk/jerusalem
Written by Josh Ashley-Smith 4/11/2017
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