Following its explosive premier at the Royal Court Theatre in 2009, Jez Butterworth’s Jerusalem was proclaimed "an instant modern classic" [The Daily Telegraph]. The merits of this bold, brash portrayal of England’s pleasant pastures were such that its sell-out run stretched across two years and two continents. “Go and see [it], if you can beg or flatter a ticket. Go on unsavoury dates to sit through Jerusalem,” The Sunday Times declared.

In light of such sustained hype, and the fact that the curtain only came down on Ian Rickson’s production in 2011, you might be forgiven for doubting the directors’ ambition. Interestingly, none of the trio – comprising Matthew Lee, Henry St Leger-Davey or Isolde Penwarden – have ever seen the original. Instead, they were brought together by a love for Butterworth’s wildly eccentric language. St Leger-Davey got drunk and ranted about his preoccupation at a party, and even now, Lee can’t help but wax lyrical about the play's thematic depth and disregard for modern convention: a non-judgemental portrait of the “forces of chaos and disorder”, embodied in the character of ex-daredevil waster, Johnny ‘Rooster’ Byron.

All this should do much to reassure audiences that they won’t be attending a precocious student copycat version of the play, replete with Mark Rylance mimic. In addition to obvious budget and practical constraints (the West End version included a veritable menagerie of livestock, including a real tortoise), the cast will be approaching it with a fresh perspective, which may well be the play’s most enticing aspect. Leading man Saul Boyer cites this, and blind, “youthful arrogance” as his grounding for following up a performance that has been described as one of “the juiciest roles in living memory” [The Times] and “the greatest stage performance […] ever witnessed” [The Daily Telegraph].

The cast’s frank acceptance of the their predecessors inimitability is what makes Jerusalem so exciting. Aside from this, it should also be remembered that the ultimate source of the play’s success was the text itself; it was this that originally attracted the directors. Such is the strength and depth of Butterworth’s writing that one can easily, as Justin Bloor (playing Troy) points out, simply revert to what is on the page. However, the company’s jokes during the interview about repeated 9am character workshops, and the decision to enlist a psychologist (for fictional personality analysis) are a testament to their commitment to Butterworth’s work.

Jerusalem is one of the iconic plays of the 21st century, one that should arguably be seen for its literary merits alone. Nevertheless, something about the attitudes of all involved can’t help but convince me that they will do it justice, while its promise of sex, drugs and strobe lighting offers a pleasant diversion from the traditionally Shakespeare-heavy ADC line up.