Mojo

Went with my family to see ‘Mojo’ last night, and realised almost at once that I was in the presence of an utterly original writing voice. The acting is top quality, but as a writer myself, I was awed by Jez Butterworth’s achievement. He wrote this at the age of 24. How? How did he find such an original voice, such sophistication, such lightness of touch, such sheer oddity? It’s the kind of writing that could never be taught in a creative writing class, or constructed out of formulae. Echoes of Mamet and Pinter, even Chekhov and Beckett; perhaps not as emotionally potent as the last two; but the guy was only 24. ‘Jerusalem’ has all the emotional potency you could desire. Great writing is extremely rare. I don’t know Jez Butterworth, I’ve never met him, but I raise my hat in profound respect.