Jerusalem review: Mark Rylance gives ‘the greatest performance of the century’

Back in 2009, Jez Butterworth’s play took the world by storm. Now it’s back

Mark Rylance on stage
Mark Rylance (second left): an astonishing performance

“There’s mighty, and then there’s Mark Rylance in Jerusalem, a performance so powerfully connected to its part that it feels almost superhuman,” said Matt Wolf in The New York Times. Back in 2009, Jez Butterworth’s play, and Rylance’s astonishing central turn in it, took the world by storm. Now it is back, once again transporting audiences to a Wiltshire wood on St George’s Day, where Johnny “Rooster” Byron – a charismatic, barrel-chested reprobate who deals drugs and parties with local youths – is facing eviction from his illegal encampment.

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