It seems there's never been a more topical moment for a play about a gypsy being turfed out of the home he's lived in for decades. Jerusalem is something of a traveller itself, having returned to the West End after a spell on Broadway, collecting a string of accolades along the way and touching down in London just as the Dale Farm residents are on their way out of their Essex abode. Life imitating art? Perhaps.
However, Jerusalem is more than a mirror to one of our current big news stories. It examines what it's like to grow up in a small, rural community in a modern world. How our heritage sometimes conflicts with our dreams for the future. About taking things for granted, prejudice, growing up, belonging.
That's a lot to pack in but with three acts, there's time. And what's more, it's not bleak. Yes it's tinged with sadness but it's laugh-out-loud funny throughout, thanks to the combination of some amazing performances and Jez Butterworth's witty source material.
The whole story takes place on St George's Day, the day of the town's annual fair, complete with morris dancers and May Queen. An eviction notice is served to a loveable, drug-dealing, ruckus-making Romany rogue - Rooster - played by the brilliant Mark Rylance.
Ostensibly, Rooster lives alone in his caravan in the woods but there is usually a crowd of all ages there, partying or listening to Rooster regale stories, like the time he met a 90-foot giant who claimed to have built Stone Henge.
His extraordinary tales are accepted without question by all except Ginger, a role which The Office's Mackenzie Crook is hilarious in. Rooster is hard to believe and yet somehow the audience goes with him. It's not like he's lying, it's just that his brain is so drink and drug-addled that he can't tell the difference between what is real or not. And you want to believe him - to see life the way he sees it.
Throughout the play you are taken on a roller-coaster ride, remembering what it was like to be a drunken teenager, saying goodbyes, doing things you weren't proud of. You experience the prejudice against Rooster, the suspicion when a girl goes missing, the contempt for his way of life, his tender protection of the people and home he cares about, and the horrific violence against him, which somehow he absorbs without complaint.
The play has a hint of nostalgia for an ancient time, when patron saints were lauded, where we danced around maypoles and believed in fairies or giants that would save us. But those days weren't wholly innocent either. As Blake writes in his poem (and the stirring hymn), England has always had its dark, satanic elements. Yet, you leave the play with the sentiment that our home - our Jerusalem - can still be that green and pleasant land. A place where miracles might just happen.