The River

By Jez Butterworth

A bewitching play by Jez Butterworth, author of the global smash-hit Jerusalem. Premiered at the Royal Court Theatre in 2012.
On a moonless night in August when the sea trout are ready to run, a man brings his new girlfriend to the remote family cabin where he has come for the fly-fishing since he was a boy. But she's not the only woman he has brought here – or indeed the last...
'A delicately unfolding puzzle... all of it is wrapped in marvelous language... extraordinary.' The Times
'One of the best productions of the year... a magnetically eerie, luminously beautiful psychodrama.' Time Out
'Strange, eerie, tense... Butterworth possesses a singular talent.' Guardian

• Language: English
• Publisher: Nick Hern Books
• Release date: Nov 8, 2012
• ISBN: 9781780011868

Jez Butterworth

Jez Butterworth is one of the UK's leading playwrights. His plays include: Mojo (Royal Court Theatre, London, 1995; West End, 2013); The Night Heron (Royal Court, 2002); The Winterling (Royal Court, 2006); Parlour Song (Atlantic Theater, New York, 2008; Almeida Theatre, London, 2009); Jerusalem (Royal Court, 2009; West End, 2010; New York, 2011); The River (Royal Court, 2012); The Ferryman (Royal Court and West End, 2017) and The Hills of California (West End, 2024). Mojo won the George Devine Award, the Olivier Award for Best Comedy and the Writers' Guild, Critics' Circle and Evening Standard Awards for Most Promising Playwright. Jerusalem won the Best Play Award at the Critics' Circle, Evening Standard and WhatsOnStage.com Awards, and was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Play. The Ferryman won the Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Play, and the Critics' Circle, Olivier and WhatsOnStage Awards for Best New Play, as well as the 2019 Tony Award for Best Play. His screenwriting credits include Fair Game (2010), Get On Up (2014), Edge of Tomorrow (2014), Black Mass (2015), Spectre (2015), Ford v Ferrari (2019), and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023). For TV, he created and wrote the comedy series Mammals for Amazon Studios, and created the historical fantasy drama Britannia for Sky and Amazon Prime. In 2007, he won the E.M. Forster Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. In 2019 he was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

Book preview

Contents

Title Page

Original Production

Dedication

Epigraph

Characters

The River

About the Author

Copyright and Performing Rights Information

The River was first performed at the Royal Court Theatre Upstairs, London, on 18 October 2012. The cast was as follows:

For Joanna Butterworth (1964–2012).

All our love, for ever.

‘At the still point of the turning world. Neither flesh nor fleshless;

Neither from nor towards; at the still point, there the dance is,

But neither arrest nor movement. And do not call it fixity,

Where past and future are gathered. Neither movement from nor towards,

Neither ascent nor decline. Except for the point, the still point,

There would be no dance, and there is only the dance.’

T.S. Eliot, ‘Burnt Norton’, Four Quartets

Characters

THE MAN

THE WOMAN

THE OTHER WOMAN

Setting

The cabin on the cliffs, above the river.

Note on Text

A forward slash (/) indicates interrupted speech.

This text went to press before the end of rehearsals and so may differ slightly from the play as performed.

Darkness. The river.

Becomes…

… A cabin. Door off to bedroom at the back. Table. Chairs. Stove. Sink. Spiders. A WOMAN’s voice, singing, off.

WOMAN’S VOICE (singing).

I went out to a hazel wood

Because a fire was in my head

And cut and peeled a hazel wand

And hooked a berry to a thread…

Enter THE WOMAN, from the bedroom.

THE WOMAN (singing).

And when white moths were on the wing

And moth-like stars were flickering out

I dropped the berry in the stream

And caught a little silver trout…

She turns, and looks towards the window. Stops.

Here. (Calls.) Quick! Come here. Don’t miss this. Quickly.

Enter THE MAN, carrying assorted fly-fishing equipment.

THE MAN (to himself). Torch. Reel. Spare reel. Leader. Fly-box. Flies…

THE WOMAN. Quickly. You must see this.

THE MAN. Forceps. Scotch. Baccy. Gink. Priest. Where’s my priest?

THE WOMAN. You are missing the most incredible thing.

THE MAN. Where’s it gone? It was right here. Here in this drawer. Where’s it gone?

THE WOMAN. Just stop what you’re doing and come here now.

THE MAN. What?

THE WOMAN. Now. Right now. Come over here.

THE MAN. Oh. I’ve seen it.

Beat.

THE WOMAN. What?

THE MAN. I’ve seen it before.

THE WOMAN. It’s never happened before.

THE MAN. Yes it has.

THE WOMAN. No it hasn’t. Not like this.

THE MAN. Just like that. They’re all the same.

THE WOMAN. No two sunsets are the same.

THE MAN. Have you seen my priest?

THE WOMAN. Describe it.

THE MAN. It’s a small piece of ram’s horn with a leather handle, about yay big with –

THE WOMAN. Describe the sunset.