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Jerusalem is 'one of the great new dramas'
Jerusalem deserved to win the Best New Play title at the Laurence Olivier Awards.
Wednesday, 24 March 2010
Jerusalem should have won the Best New Play honour at the Laurence Olivier Awards, according to a leading West End theatre critic.
The excellence of Jez Butterworth's play was recognised at Sunday's awards ceremony when Mark Rylance was named Best Actor for his performance as Johnny Byron, but the Best New Play gong went to The Mountaintop.
Daily Telegraph theatre correspondent Charles Spencer strongly disagreed with the decision, which he described as "perverse to the point of lunacy".
"To suggest that this play is better than Jez Butterworth's Jerusalem, one of the greatest new dramas I have seen in more than 30 years of reviewing ... is simply absurd," he insisted.
Jerusalem, a play about life in a small Wiltshire village, has won rave reviews from critics since it opened at the Royal Court Theatre in 2009.
It proved successful enough to earn a transfer to the Apollo Theatre in the West End in January 2010 and it is now booking until April 24th 2010.