Jez Butterworth Plays: One

Jez Butterworth

• Publisher: Nick Hern Books
• Year: 2013
• Print ISBN:
  9781848422261
• eBook ISBN:
  9781780012223
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: British Drama
• Index: Literature

Four full-length plays and two previously unpublished shorts from the multi-award-winning author of Jerusalem.

Jez Butterworth burst onto the theatre scene aged twenty-five with Mojo, 'one of the most dazzling Royal Court main stage debuts in years' ( Time Out). This first volume of his Collected Plays contains that play plus the three that followed, as well as two short one-person pieces published here for the first time – everything in fact that precedes Jerusalem, 'unarguably one of the best dramas of the twenty-first century' ( Guardian).

Plays One includes:

Mojo, staged in 1995 but set in the Soho clubland of 1958, 'superbly captures the atmosphere of the infant British rock and roll scene where seedy low-lifers hustle for the big time' ( Daily Telegraph). It is 'Beckett on speed' ( Observer) by a 'dramatist of obvious talent and terrific promise' ( The Times).

The Night Heron (2002) is set in the Cambridgeshire Fens amongst assorted oddballs, birdwatchers and the local constabulary. 'It's funny, it's sad, it's haunting and it also strangely beautiful. Above all, it is quite unlike anything you've ever seen before' ( Daily Telegraph).

In The Winterling (2006) a gangland fugitive is visited by two associates from the city who have other things on their mind than a jolly reunion. 'The dialogue is testosterone taut, a sense of menace invades every conversation... and as tales of torture and treachery unfold, the black comedy never misses' ( Time Out).

Leavings(previously unpublished), a short monologue about an old man whose dog has gone missing.

The housing estate in Parlour Song (2008) is 'a place of illicit desire and painful memories, of bad dreams and mysterious disappearances... a play that combines the comic, the erotic and the downright disconcerting with superb panache' ( Daily Telegraph).

The Naked Eye (previously unpublished), a short monologue about a family preparing to watch Halley's Comet as it passes through the night sky.

Introducing the plays is an interview with Jez Butterworth specially conducted for this volume.  

MOJO

Mojo was first performed at the Royal Court Theatre Downstairs in Sloane Square, London, on 14 July 1995, with the following cast:

SILVER JOHNNY	Hans Matheson
SWEETS	Matt Bardock
POTTS	Andy Serkis
BABY	Tom Hollander
SKINNY	Aidan Gillen
MICKEY	David Westhead
Director	Ian Rickson
Designer	Ultz
Lighting Designers	Ultz and Mark Ridler
Sound Designer	Paul Arditti
Composer	Stephen Warbeck

The production transferred to the Royal Court Theatre Downstairs in St Martin’s Lane, London, on 10 October 1996, with the following cast:

SILVER JOHNNY	Daniel Newman
SWEETS	Callum Dixon
POTTS	Neil Stuke
BABY	Paul Reynolds
SKINNY	Darren Tighe
MICKEY	Simon Kunz

Characters

in order of appearance

SILVER JOHNNY, seventeen

SWEETS, early twenties

POTTS, early twenties

BABY, twenties

SKINNY, early twenties

MICKEY, thirties

Act One takes place upstairs at Ezra’s Atlantic in Dean Street, Soho, July 1958.

Act Two takes place downstairs in the club and starts around 6 p.m. on the same day.

ACT ONE

Scene One

Upstairs at the Atlantic. SILVER JOHNNY stands alone. We hear the drums, the thudding bass, the screams from the club below. SILVER JOHNNY does steps by himself, tight, menacing, explosive, like a boxer in the seconds before a fight. A low distorted voice announces the act, the girls scream, but he keeps them waiting. The music rises, faster, louder. It reaches its height, SILVER JOHNNY stands at the top of the steel staircase. When the moment comes, he vaults into the stairwell and vanishes, enveloped by sound.

The drums pound on in the blackout. Suddenly they stop and the next second we are back upstairs at the Atlantic, after the show. SWEETS and POTTS are sitting at a table. There is a pot of tea on the table with three pretty cups, on a tray. The door to the back room is shut.

SWEETS. Is that brewed?

POTTS. Four minutes.

SWEETS. You want a pill?

POTTS. My piss is black.

SWEETS. It’s the white ones. Don’t eat no more of the white ones. (Pause.) So where is he sitting?

POTTS. Who?

SWEETS. Mr Ross.

POTTS. He’s on the couch.

SWEETS. Right.

POTTS. Mr Ross is on the couch.

SWEETS. Good. How is he?

POTTS. What?

SWEETS. Good mood, bad mood, quiet, jolly, upfront, offhand. Paint me a picture.

POTTS. Tan suit. No tie. Penny loafers. No tassle.

SWEETS. Uh-huh. Right. Does he look flush?

POTTS. He’s Mr Ross.

SWEETS. Absolutely.

POTTS. He’s a flush man.

SWEETS. Naturally.

POTTS. Ten-guinea Baltimore loafers. Suit sweat a year for you couldn’t buy. Shirt undone. Tanned like a darkie. Yes he looks flush.

SWEETS. Ten-guinea Baltimores? Fuck me briefly.

POTTS. Penny. No tassle.

SWEETS. They’re talking about it aren’t they... (Pause.) Okay. Okay. So where’s Ezra?

POTTS. Ezra’s at the desk, but he’s not in his chair. He’s round here to one side.

SWEETS. The Mr Ross side or the miles-away side?

POTTS. Round here to the side on the poochy stool.

SWEETS. Poochy stool. Good.

POTTS. Sit behind the desk it’s like I’m the man. Like I’m trying to big you out. Sit round the side on the poochy stool, Hey Presto, we’re all a circle.

SWEETS. Okay. Okay. So where’s the kid?

POTTS. Couch.

SWEETS. Couch. Good.

POTTS. On the couch with Mr Ross.

SWEETS. Exactly. Let him see the merchandise.

They sit there, waiting for the tea to brew.

You know Beryl? She goes to me tonight, she goes, ‘When Silver Johnny sings the song my pussyhair stands up.’

POTTS. Relax.

SWEETS. I know. I know. Her pussyhair.

POTTS. We just sit here.

SWEETS. I know. Her fucking minge. Her fur. It stands up.

POTTS. I see these girls. It’s voodoo. Shaking it like they hate it. Like they hate themselves for it.

SWEETS. In the alley. ‘Get it out,’ she says. ‘Get it out I’ll play a tune on it...’

POTTS. One day he’s asking his mum can he cross the road the next he’s got grown women queueing up to suck his winkle.

SWEETS. Seventeen. Child.

POTTS. These girls. They shit when he sings.

SWEETS. Exactly. (Beat.) What?

POTTS. Mickey knows. They shit. He seen it.

SWEETS. They what?

POTTS. It’s a sex act. It’s sexual.

SWEETS. Hold it. Hold it. Stop. Wait. (Beat.) They shit?

POTTS. All over.

Beat.

SWEETS. What does that mean?

POTTS. Means they have no control in front of a shiny-suited child. Sad fucking world. The end. I’m going to use this as a rule for life: ‘Anything makes polite young ladies come their cocoa in public is worth taking a look at.’

SWEETS. Good rule.

POTTS. Great rule.

SWEETS. There’s got to be rules and that’s a rule.

POTTS. What time is it? Okay. Good. Sweets. Listen. (Beat.) When he announces it –

SWEETS. Hey –

POTTS. When Ezra –

SWEETS. Hey. Hey –

POTTS. If he takes you aside... (I know. I know. But listen) –

SWEETS. Could be me could be you. Could be me could be you.

POTTS. Exactly. I’m planning. I’m... listen. He takes you aside tells you takes me aside, it’s not important. For me there’s no difference.

SWEETS. It’s exactly the same thing. Me or you. Exactly.

POTTS. Exactly. Good. The important thing is whichever way it comes, when he announces it, when it happens, act ‘Surprised and Happy’.

SWEETS. Surprised and Good. Good.

POTTS. Happy and Good. Good. The end. That’s four minutes. (Stands and picks up the tea tray.) What?

SWEETS. Absolutely. What? Nothing.

POTTS. I’ll be straight back.

SWEETS. Right. Good luck.

POTTS. Relax.

SWEETS. I am relaxed. I’m talking.

POTTS takes the tea into the back room. He closes the door. SWEETS lights a cigarette. POTTS ret...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title page
• Contents
• Interview with Jez Butterworth
• Mojo
• The Night Heron
• The Winterling
• Leavings
• Parlour Song
• The Naked Eye
• About the Author
• Copyright and Performing Rights Information