JERUSALEM Reviews — Page 2

Just saw the play tonight, and it really is a wondrous thing. I suspect War Horse will take the Tony anyway, but I do hope this show finds its audience. Rylance is simply incredible, and I feel privileged to have seen him (and even more regretful that I missed Boeing Boeing).

This was the last of the new plays this year that I saw, and I'm now wondering what gets the Tony nomations. I'd say this, War Horse, and Good People are locks with Bengal Tiger and Mother****er battling it out for the fourth spot. I'd personally swap Brief Encounter in for War Horse, but I still can't even decide if I'd personally choose Bengal or MF. I think I'll be a little sad for whichever doesn't get in. Have there been this many great new plays in a single season in recent memory? Someone else mentioned all the great male leads in plays this past year as well. It's an embarassment of riches.

Mark Rylance has no understudy. If he is too sick to perform or if something happens to him, what's Plan B?

All the reviews focus on Mr. Rylance. What about the other actors in the show or is this Jerusalem starring Mark Rylance and other people?

Is Jerusalem another in the long line of "England isn't what it use to be" plays that English playwrights are so fond of writing?

The reviews focus on Rylance because this play is very much centered on his character. He's onstage almost the entire time. Doesn't mean the rest of the cast is ignored. To wit:

From Variety: Although it's hard to look anywhere else when Rylance is on stage, which is all the time, Mackenzie Crook manages to turn heads with his droll perf as Ginger, the faithful hanger-on who missed last night's bacchanal and may be too strung-out for today's festivities, the St. George's Day fete that is an annual rite of spring...anny Kirrane has a sobering turn as Davey, whose job at a slaughterhouse goes a long way to explain why he parties so hard on weekends. Non-Brit John Gallagher, Jr. ("American Idiot") lends his sensitivity to Lee, a born-and-bred country boy about to strike out for the wilds of Australia. And Geraldine Hughes, welcome in anything, has her moment as Rooster's wrung-out ex-wife, Dawn.

NYT: The play’s inhabitants, embodied by a fully committed ensemble that includes Mackenzie Crook (of Mr. Rickson’s marvelous revival of “The Seagull”) and John Gallagher Jr. (“American Idiot”), speak in slangy, peppery dialogue that regularly cues laughter. And many of the supporting characters are given classic monologues of self-perception that enhance the work’s larger themes.

"Is Jerusalem another in the long line of "England isn't what it use to be" plays that English playwrights are so fond of writing?"

A Director: no, it isn't, although a superficial glance might interpret it as such.

But don't bother seeing it. If you didn't understand Billy Elliot then you certainly won't understand this.

Incidentally, I'd also be interested to know which plays you are referring to above.

Updated On: 4/22/11 at 03:59 AM

Oh, please. That tired old "ain't what it used to be" has been around since parents were telling their kids "in my day we didn't have fire or the wheel." And it will always be with us. Nothing is ever quite so good as how we remember something from the past.