JERUSALEM at the Music Box

(Seen 4/26/11)

Jez Butterworth's JERUSALEM is a manic play that manages to submerge its many merits through over-kill, both in words and actions. Spurning any idea that less is more, this is a 'no-holds-barred' romp into a sub-culture in contemporary England. It is full of sub-plots and back-stories, but they seldom play out.

With 'Jerusalem' as a metaphor for Eden or Utopia, we follow the exploits of an anti-establishment rebel living in a motor home on the edge of a small English town. He attracts a small coterie of young misfits and thrill-seekers who commune with him through his supply of drugs and liquor.

I must admit to a bias against over-the-top performances which I think would be more effective through judicious underplaying. I am evidently in the minority who thinks Mark Rylance over-acts and over-plays this already larger-than-life character.

There is a meaningful story lurking behind all the histrionics which fails to surface and materialize because of too much bluster and false paths.