Audition Notice
Jerusalem
by Jez Butterworth
directed by David Villiers
Performance Dates - 13 – 21 February 2026
Audition Dates - 16, 19 & 20 October
Rehearsals - expect 3 times per week from Late November (Reduced around Christmas & New Year)
Jez Butterworth’s hugely acclaimed, prize-winning play – a comic, contemporary vision of life in England’s green and pleasant land. 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.
Turning the whole studio into the woodland clearing the play is set in, will put the audience into the thick of things and make sure this is a production that is bordering on immersive…we may even need a “splashzone”! Bringing the action up close in the NVT studio will ensure a production packed with immediacy and rawness.
With a host of characters, there are wonderful roles for a range of ages. Rooster obviously remains the beating heart of the piece and requires an actor of immense skill and a willingness to take risks to make it new and fresh, but in this type of staging, all the actors involved would need to be comfortable in our audiences faces.
Characters
Johnny "Rooster" Byron – Opinionated, eccentric, ex-daredevil and teller of fantastically improbable stories, he has a young son whom he rarely sees. He lives in a caravan in the local woods. He holds parties where he gets drunk and supplies drugs, some of them to under-age kids. He has a rare type of blood, and he makes money by selling his blood for transfusion
This part is a tour de force and must command the stage at all times. Whilst charming and larger than life, he must have a dark edge
PLAYING AGE – Fit 50s-Early 60s
Ginger – Underdog of the group, older than the others who hang around with Johnny, never having grown out of the lifestyle. He aspires to be a DJ, but is an unemployed plasterer. Must be a believable loser
PLAYING AGE – 30s/Early 40s
The Professor – Vague and whimsical yet kind, the elderly professor spouts philosophical nothings and unwittingly takes LSD. He has a good relationship with Johnny
PLAYING AGE – 60s
Davey – Teenage abattoir worker who is best friends with Lee, and visits Rooster regularly for free drugs and alcohol. He can't stand the idea of leaving Wiltshire
PLAYING AGE – Late teens/Early 20s
Troy Whitworth – Local thug, the same age as Ginger. Troy's stepdaughter goes missing (after it is strongly implied he abuses her); he badly beats Johnny at the end of the play
PLAYING AGE - 30s/Early 40s
Lee – Teenager, enters the play after having been hidden on the sofa asleep. He plans to emigrate to Australia the next day, despite having little money to take with him
PLAYING AGE – Late teens/Early 20s
Phaedra – Troy's stepdaughter is seen at the beginning of both Acts One and Two singing the hymn "Jerusalem" and dressed in fairy wings. She is said to have disappeared; at the end of Act Two it is revealed that she is hiding in Johnny's caravan
PLAYING AGE – Late teens
Pea and Tanya – Two local girls who emerge from underneath Johnny's caravan, having fallen asleep drunk. Looking for a good time in whatever form that comes, preferably from Johnny’s selection of pills…
PLAYING AGE – Late teens/Early 20s
Dawn – Johnny's ex-girlfriend and mother to son Marky. Although she disapproves of his life, she kisses him again but there is no reconciliation
PLAYING AGE – 30s/40s
Marky – Johnny's son (likely played by a slightly older child than the six year old the script suggests)
Wesley – The local pub landlord, he is involved in the festivities for St George's Day and has been roped into doing Morris Dancing. A grumpy, yet amiable character
PLAYING AGE – 50s
Fawcett and Parsons – Council officials who serve Johnny’s eviction notice with great delight
PLAYING AGE – 20s-50s
Frank Whitworth – Brother of Troy Whitworth
Small “heavy” role
PLAYING AGE – 30s/40s
Danny Whitworth – Younger brother of Troy and Frank Whitworth
Small “heavy” role
PLAYING AGE – 30s
All characters (except possibly The Professor, Fawcett & Parsons) require broad West Country accents
To register interest, request a script or audition pieces, please email David (Director) & Alison (Production Manager) on