[NEohioPAL] Ensemble's Jerusalem Fizzles

[Stephen via NEohioPAL]

The Ensemble Theatre's production of Jerusalem by Jez Butterworth, directed by Ian Hinz, is one big, messy, long evening. The action is slow, and the production strains very hard for an effect it never manages to achieve.



The play revolves around the events of St George's Day in a town on the edge of Salisbury Plain. Johnny "Rooster" Byron is a Romany gypsy, and the town's council have finally arranged the legal essentials to have him evicted to build new housing.  On St George's Day, a local fair is held and antics ensue against the background of Johnny's impending eviction.



To be truthful, I didn't get Jerusalem's message, if there was one. And in the case of a show that has no discernible meaning, where an over-abundance of lines are heaved around by very inexperienced cast members, coupled with a director who doesn't seem to have a decipherable conceptual message, something is very wrong. The production is just a community theatre romp, with very few poignant moments, and lots of ambiguity.



Much too much time is wasted with a cast of idiosyncratic characters whose presence is supposed to give the audience the feeling that what they are watching is risky, edgy and dark. Instead, we get a production that is long-winded, and self-indulgent. Unfortunately, this production serves no one, except the inflated ego of a director, who might have felt that he possesses the Golden Touch to pull off this complicated piece, but in truth, totally missed the mark in terms of the execution and analysis of the text, as well as the casting choices; more competent performers should have filled the roles, ones who can hold their dialects, and bring some originality to their performances. Perhaps in the hands of a more proficient and accomplished director, Jerusalem might have at least been entertaining.



So the wrap-up: if someone tells you they loved Jerusalem, they do not know theatre. The production is an incomprehensible blur from which I gleaned no value.

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