Name Jez Butterworth | Role Playwright | |
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Occupation Playwright, screenwriter, film director Notable works Mojo (1995)
Mojo (adapted for screen) (1997)
Birthday Girl (2001)
The Night Heron (2002)
Parlour Song (2008)
Jerusalem (2009) Books The Winterling, Jerusalem, Plays: One, The River Siblings John-Henry Butterworth, Tom Butterworth, Steve Butterworth Movies Black Mass, Edge of Tomorrow, Birthday Girl, Get on Up, Fair Game, The Last Legion, Mojo, Huge Awards Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Comedy Plays Jerusalem, Mojo, Parlour Song, The Night Heron Similar People John‑Henry Butterworth, Ian Rickson, Doug Liman, Christopher McQuarrie, Mark Rylance | ||
Theater talk jerusalem playwright jez butterworth and tony winning best actor mark rylance
Jeremy "Jez" Butterworth (born March 1969) is an English playwright, screenwriter, and film director. He has written screenplays in collaboration with his brothers, John-Henry and Tom.
Contents
- Theater talk jerusalem playwright jez butterworth and tony winning best actor mark rylance
- Playwright jez butterworth on jerusalem england and englishness
- Life and career
- Work
- References
Playwright jez butterworth on jerusalem england and englishness
Life and career
Butterworth was born in London, England. His brother Steve is a producer and brothers Tom and John-Henry are also writers. He attended Verulam Comprehensive School, St Albans and St John's College, Cambridge.
Butterworth has had major success with his play Mojo (which premiered at the Royal Court Theatre in 1995). It won the Laurence Olivier, an Evening Standard , The Writer's Guild and the George Devine awards, and the Critic's Circle Award.
Butterworth wrote and directed the film adaptation of Mojo, released in 1997. This featured Harold Pinter. A major influence on Butterworth's work is 2005 Nobel Literature Laureate Harold Pinter: "I know and admire Harold Pinter enormously. He has a ginormous influence on me. Conversations with him have inspired my work."
He directed and co-wrote with his brother Tom the film Birthday Girl (2001), which was produced by his brother Steve and starred Nicole Kidman.
Butterworth also achieved positive reviews with his plays The Night Heron (which premiered at the Royal Court in 2002) and The Winterling (also at the Royal Court in 2006). In May 2007 Butterworth received the E. M. Forster Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
His play Parlour Song opened to "rave reviews" at the Atlantic Theatre Company, in New York City in March 2008. The Almeida Theatre presented its European première in March 2009.
Butterworth's fourth play for the Royal Court was the comedy Jerusalem, which premiered in July 2009 to outstandingly positive reviews. Described as a "contemporary vision of life in [England's] green and pleasant land", Jerusalem was the second important Butterworth production in London in 2009. The production starred Mark Rylance as Johnny Byron, and featured Mackenzie Crook as Ginger in a supporting role. It was a sell-out at the Royal Court, won the Evening Standard Theatre Award and Critics' Circle Theatre Award for the best play of 2009 and, with the same cast, transferred to the Apollo Theatre on Shaftesbury Avenue in January 2010. Jerusalem opened on Broadway, New York, in April 2011, with many of the original UK cast. It returned to London later that year, again playing at the Apollo. In January 2014 Jerusalem opened at San Francisco Playhouse in San Francisco where it also received raving reviews. In May 2011, Jerusalem was nominated for a Tony Award and Mark Rylance, in the role of Johnny 'Rooster' Byron, won the Tony Award of Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play.
Jez Butterworth and John-Henry Butterworth were named recipients of the Writers Guild of America West's 2011 Paul Selvin Award for their screenplay for the film Fair Game (2010), directed by Doug Liman and starring Naomi Watts and Sean Penn.
On 26 October 2012, Butterworth's play The River opened at the Royal Court Theatre, starring Dominic West, Laura Donnelly and Miranda Raison. The River had its US premiere on Broadway at the Circle in the Square Theatre in a limited engagement in October 2014, starring Hugh Jackman and directed by Ian Rickson.
Butterworth's latest play, The Ferryman, opened at the Royal Court Theatre on 24 April 2017. Directed by Sam Mendes, it is the fastest selling play in Royal Court Theatre history. Set in Rural Derry, in 1981, it explores The Troubles - it particular the events surrounding the deaths of IRA hunger strikers such as Bobby Sands - through the experiences of the Carney family. It is set in the Carney farmhouse, a hive of activity with preparations for the annual harvest. A day of hard work on the land and a traditional night of feasting and celebrations lie ahead. But the festivities are interrupted by an unwelcome visitor.
The play received 15 five star reviews, including all the major UK Dailies and Sunday papers; the Irish Times said "Although Butterworth is English, The Ferryman feels like a thoroughly Irish play, not only because there is not a single false note in the dialogue." The Huffington Post called it "one of the two or three greatest plays of the decade". But writing in the Guardian, critic Sean O'Hagan said "I'm from Northern Ireland and it doesn't ring true". https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jul/16/jez-butterworth-the-ferryman-irish-stereotypes-sam-mendes
Two weeks later The Irish Times printed an article entitled "In Defence of The Ferryman" which directly challenged Sean O'Hagan's claims, calling the play "layered and powerful". http://www.irishtimes.com/culture/stage/in-defence-of-the-ferryman-by-jez-butterworth-1.3173470
Work
Plays
TV
Film as a writer
Film as a director