A little theatrical interlude here as I was just in the mood to extol the virtues of one of the best plays and, indeed, lead performances I have witnessed in a good long while.
Jerusalem had a fine run at the Royal Court Theatre, located in the home of the urban tractor, Sloane Square and I was fortunate enough to stumble upon this. Given the huge success it had here, it has now been given a full west-end transfer to the Apollo Theatre on Shaftesbury Avenue.
There is a whole cast of great performances, including Mackenzie Crook, but it is impossible to really notice anything other than Mark Rylance's outstanding portrayal of the pikey pied piper Johnny 'Rooster' Byron, a lunatic, drunkard, drug-dealing raconteur in the finest English sense of the words.
At turns both a hero and an anti-hero, it's a performance that is throroughly enticing, engaging, powerful and thought provoking. It never lets up for a second and the whole play grabs you and hangs on, like a small, yappy-type dog with something to prove, until it's bitter end.
Jerusalem is a celebration of a particular kind of England that is loved and loathed in equal measure. Never dull but evidently being eroded by 'progress' and gentrification.
Go see, celebrate, cerebrate before it is too late.
Until 24th April
Cheaper tickets are available from Lastminute.com and occasionally from the Tkts booth in Leicester Square.
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