“Mojo” – a play by Jez Butterworth

Mojo by Jez Butterworth

Harold Pinter Theatre

The revival of Jez Butterworth’s first play, Mojo, was anticipated as a must see for London theatregoers. Featuring an all-star cast that includes Ben Whislaw and Rupert Grint, combined with a script from the writer of Jerusalem fame, this had all the ingredients for a strong piece of drama.

The play, set in a 1950s Soho nightclub, details the events of a weekend where the protagonists battle it out for control of the premises with a rival gang.  A bitter internal struggle develops between the characters and the second half of the play focuses on the unravelling of this mental and physical battle. Ben Whishaw excels as the psychotic homosexual, Baby, whose nightclub owner father meets his maker in 2 dustbins. Daniel Mays, the drug hyped Potts, is even better as his drug-fuelled portrayal is both edgy and skittish. Rupert Grint, of Harry Potter fame, playing Sweets was a worthy side kick for Potts. The continuous banter between Sweets and Potts epitomised the scenes where Butterworth’s extremely black humour was effective. Colin Morgan, normally safely disguised in the family favourite “Merlin” cuts his teeth in an equaling demanding role as Skinny. Even Tom Rhys Harris, who spends most of his time on stage hanging upside down, shows huge promise as Silver Johnny.

Despite all the great acting and several scenes of caustic, witty language the play eventually begins to fall apart. There are many similarities between “Mojo” and Tarantino’s film  “Reservoir Dogs”. Both feature an all-male cast in a bloody crime setting, which bubbles over with sadistic violence and heavy cursing. Where Tarantino succeeds with a huge amount of finesse, “Mojo” stalls due to every line of dialogue trying to be too clever. Brutal and ubiquitous swearing was obviously a feature of 1950s Soho but over-use diminishes the poignancy leaving the spectator to question the purpose of it. There’s shock value and there’s shock value. This time it didn’t work and I came away feeling let down by all the hype.