Lakewood’s has been on a roll this year, already mounting regional premieres of two vexingly named, compelling plays.
And its regional premiere of Jez Butterworth’s brute and brillian “Jerusalem” — with its authentic performances from a collection of young actors and some well-cast vets — is very strong indeed.
And yet.
As they say, would you like to hear the good news or the “and yet” first?
Let’s begin with the positives, because they are no small feat and are cause enough to head out to see “Jerusalem.”
In a wooded area of British countryside, Johnny “Rooster” Byron’s turf is being steadily encroached upon by housing developments, or estates.
“I’ll say this,” muses Mr. Parsons (Peter Murillo) from the local housing council looking out at the view that greets Byron’s hungover mornings. “It is a lovely spot.”
Parsons is playing second fiddle to the rather self-satisfied Ms. Fawcett (Erica Fox) as she tries to get Byron to come to his trailer door so she can serve notice of eviction.
Barks and growls emanate from within. It’s Byron’s version of faking an accent on the phone in order to throw bill collectors off the scent.
Like Parsons, you would have to look away from Byron’s debris-strewn yard to go all misty about England. Because Byron — dealer of drugs, one-time daredevil, sounding board to wayward teens — is not a good neighbor.
He is, however, a tremendous character. And Augustus Truhn breathes galling, charismatic, furious life into him.
It is St. George’s Day, when England celebrates the battling figure who, legend has it, once slayed a dragon.
Although grit and grime bring a realism to the setting, there are more than a few markers of the mythic and the epic in this three-act, three-hour work.
Indeed, the first act finds aging groupie/friend/deejay wannabe Ginger (played by John Brown, hitting notes amped and hunkering) singing like a troubadour of Rooster’s exploits.
The second act finds Rooster crowing about his own feats. Mind you, he has an audience.
The cast of young folk who show up to enjoy his tall tales and mediocre drugs is impressive. The performances director Warren Sherrill gets from Ben Hilzer as Davey (whose dislike of travel extends to the next village) and John Hauser as Lee (set to leave all this splendid squalor behind for Australia) are especially credible.
For the grown-up contingent (and that requires ironic quotation marks), Mark Collins, fresh from a very funny turn in Miners Alley’s is just as funny and rather more tender as local pub owner Wesley.
Rick Williams arrives as the Professor whose slightly slippery memory becomes more so when he unwittingly takes some acid.
Emily Paton Davies makes her typical mark as Dawn, Byron’s girlfriend and mother of their son, Markey (Harrison Lyles-Smith). There’s a flicker in her eyes when Byron tells her to peer into his that hints at a whole new dimension to the play.
Dressed as a fairy, Phaedra (Bethany Richardson) begins the play’s prologue reciting the hymn “Jerusalem,” based on a William Blake poem fragment.
Over the course of the play, Butterworth has Phaedra flit into the narrative. At one point, her stepfather (Mark Stith) accuses Byron of the 15-year-old’s disappearance.
In the third act, the winds of reality pick up. Byron isn’t really going to get away with squatting on that land rent-free, is he? Confrontation is a-brewin’ on a few fronts. Yet there have been teasing hints along the way of something other, something more, something that puts Byron in the line of mythic heroes.
From the start, we’ve known Byron is human, coarsely so. In the end, he may have you believing he’s as legendary as he thinks.
So, right about now, you must be wondering: What was all that “and yet” business?
Last month, I had the humbling good fortune to spend time with theater critics Ben Brantley and Matt Wolf as part of the . When asked what piece of theater wowed them most, each sang the praises of “Jerusalem,” which was produced in 2009 in London and then in New York in 2016. They loved it.
As muscular as Edge’s production is, it isn’t indelible or shattering. Though it is funny.
What they saw, I wanted to see — and didn’t quite. “D’oh,” you say. After all, Mark Rylance played Byron, and there are few as astounding actors working on stage currently. But Truhn’s acting isn’t the reason “Jerusalem” feels constrained.
Running beneath the play’s realism are mighty currents of the transcendent. Yet, this production never persuaded me I was in the company of a great play. It nails the human but not the epic.
If Edge is going continue to introduce area audiences to brazen works like “Jerusalem,” it has a duty to figure out how best to leverage its modest resources — the scenic design, the lighting, sound — in order to show all such plays in their incendiary and raging, grand and carnal glory.
Lisa Kennedy: 303-954-1567, lkennedy@denverpost.com or twitter.com/bylisakennedy
“JERUSALEM” Written by Jez Butterworth. Directed by Warren Sherrill. Featuring Augustus Truhn, John Brown, Ben Hilzer, John Hauser, Ren Manley and Samara Bridwell. Through May 24. 3 hours. At Edge Theater Company, 1560 Teller St. Tickets $16-$26 via theedgetheater.com or 303-232-0363.
