Jerusalem by Jez Butterworth
Directed by Ollie Graveson and Amy Harrington
Production Assistant – Ben Ansley
Key Dates
Information Evening: Tuesday 24th February 2026 7.30-8.30pm.
Auditions: Friday 6th March 2026 7pm start.
Show Dates: Wednesday 15th – Saturday 18th July 2026 (Get out on the 19th).
If you are interested in auditioning, please get in touch with one of us! Scripts available from Ollie Graveson (olliegraveson@googlemail.com) or Amy Harrington (sweetbottle@hotmail.com)
Synopsis
On St George’s Day, the morning of the local country fair, Johnny ‘Rooster’ Byron, local waster and Lord of Misrule, is a wanted man. The council officials want to serve him an eviction notice, his son wants to be taken to the fair, a vengeful father wants to give him a serious kicking, and a motley crew of mates wants his ample supply of drugs and alcohol.
Come and join us for a wild green time!!
Characters
We are flexible with the ages of these characters, this is just a guide. For the role of the Professor we are open to casting a much younger actor, who could be aged up. The play includes violence, drug use, swearing. There are several kisses throughout the play – full kisses between Dawn & Johnny, and Tanya and Pea kiss Johnny on the cheek.
We have summed each character up in one word for fun!
N.B. Everyone except Ms Fawcett, Mr Parsons & Professor must have West Country accents.
Phaedra (Female) – Teenager. Ethereal.
Ms Fawcett (Female) – Council Officer. Middle Aged. Officious.
Mr Parsons (Male) – Council Officer. In his 20s. Sycophantic.
Johnny ‘Rooster’ Byron (Male) – Around 50 Year old. Untameable.
Ginger (Male) – Around 30 year old. Stagnant.
Professor (Male) – 60s. Whimsical.
Lee (Male) – Teenager. Dreamer.
Davey (Male) – Teenager. Mischievous.
Pea (Female) – Teenager. Sweet.
Tanya (Female) – Teenager. Bolshy.
Wesley (Male) – 50 or so. Soft.
Dawn (Female) – 30s. Exasperated.
Troy Whitworth (Male) – 30s. Prick.
Information Evening
7:30-8:30pm on Tuesday 24th February
The auditions will be held in the bar of the Whitstable Playhouse (can be accessed by the back entrance of the Theatre). We will give a summary of our vision for the production and answer any questions, we are hoping to keep this evening short! We will not be reading the whole play through, but we may read a few extracts, so everyone can get a sense of the style of the play.
Audition Evening
7:30pm start on Friday 6th March
The auditions will be held in the bar of the Whitstable Playhouse (can be accessed by the back entrance of the Theatre). The audition process will involve you acting out the sections of the script below. Have a think about who you would like to read for, you can of course read for multiple characters. There is no need to learn the lines in advance but do familiarise yourself with the text and think about how you interpret the character.
Audition Extracts:
Fawcett and Parsons – Pages 12-14. From Fawcett’s line ‘Time’ on page 12 to Parsons line ‘I’ll say this. It’s a lovely spot’ on page 14.
Phaedra – To sing the short section of the hymn Jerusalem on page 11. Beginning ‘And did those feet in ancient time’ and ending on ‘Among those dark satanic….’ on page 11.
Phaedra and Johnny – To act the scene with Johnny beginning page 103 Phaedra ‘ don’t you get lonely?’ and ending on page 105 Phaedra ‘Dance with the May Queen’.
Dawn and Johnny Byron – From Page 67 Dawn ‘What the hell are you doing John’ to Page 69 Dawn ‘And it moves on and you don’t. You’re still here’.
Troy Whitworth – With Johnny, Ginger, Pea, Lee, Davey, Tanya . From page 81 Johnny ‘Troy, Good afternoon Mate’ to page 82 Pea ‘Don’t call me a slapper’.
Lee and Davey and Ginger – Page 87 from Lee ‘Rooster. It’s us’ to page 89 Davey ‘….It is time to bring the ruckus’.
Pea, Tanya, Lee, Johnny, Ginger, Davey – From page 31 Johnny ‘Oi, oi. Fuck are you still doing here?’ to Page 33 Tanya ‘…she went straight up the dual carriageway, fourteen years old’.
Professor and Johnny – From page 100 Professor ‘Is that you Mr Byron?’ to page 101 Professor ‘The Winter is over’.
Wesley and Johnny – From page 47 Wesley ‘Look fuck it. Sue’ll kill me….’ to page 49 Johnny ‘Pinch Sue’s bum from me.’
Ginger and Johnny – From page 18 Ginger ‘So you’re barred from the Coopers then’ to page 20 Ginger ‘You got the grand slam. To think they said it would never happen’.
Rehearsals
We will also have copies of the rehearsal schedule at the info evening/auditions.
Any questions, feel free to get in touch with one of us. Thank you!
Ollie and Amy