Jez Butterworth and Sam Mendes on rewriting The Hills of California for Broadway and comparisons to Gypsy

Jez Butterworth and Sam Mendes don’t think much about their characters off-screen. Butterworth says he doesn’t go home and wonder what Johnny “Rooster” Byron does after the curtain closes. Jerusalem; Whatever happens to Quinn Carney after his bloody end Boatman irrelevant. However, when it comes to California Hills, Butterworth admits she is deeply concerned about the fate of the women who come to life on stage at Broadway’s Broadhurst Theatre.

In this new drama, premiered at the Harold Pinter Theatre in London’s West End earlier this yearThree of the Webb siblings await the return of their prodigal fourth while their mother Veronica lies dying upstairs. Will Joan, who cut off all contact with her family decades ago, arrive in time? And what compelled her to leave in the first place? Through flashbacks, we learn the full scope of the Webb family dynamic, and how the siblings (a former quartet of singers) were pushed around by their ambitious stage mother.

It’s a different kind of game for Butterworth, less mysterious and more sinister. It’s no surprise that she and Mendes think about the Webb women as they vividly share their stories. You’ll think so too.

This conversation has been condensed and edited for clarity.

Jez, you’ve said you’re surrounded by women in your life with your four daughters and your wife Laura Donnelly. Do you feel that influence? California HillsIs it a more successful play than your previous works, a play about mothers, daughters and sisters?
Jez Butterworth: The simple difference is that SpellIn my first game 30 years ago there were six or seven guys and California Hills eight women. My life has really changed since the first half, from going to an all-boys school and having one sister and three brothers. It was a very masculine existence and now it’s completely the opposite.

Sam Mendes: It’s a very woman-oriented play. It makes me think of my daughter, my mother, my wife.

Yes: I wouldn’t say I have a female perspective, but it’s made a huge difference in how I think about the world, and definitely in my gaming. BoatmanI think three of these actresses were nominated for Olivier Awards, and I was thrilled, because I think that’s how I finally learned how to write decent roles for women.

This is one of your only plays to not have a first opening at the Royal Court, instead cold opening in the West End. Is that kind of pressure any different for both of you as artists?
Yes: It feels like opening a game. I’m very Tiggerish about the whole thing. I find it exciting. I’m excited to do it. I can’t sleep. I don’t worry too much about what the strategy is going to be to make a game. I did these things at the Royal Court because that’s what they were going to do.

I didn’t really want it at the Royal Court because I didn’t really understand what the Royal Court had become. It was about taking it to the West End first, not wanting to do it at the Royal Court, and nothing more than that. And if everyone thinks it’s a good idea – Sam and[producer]Sonia Friedman know a lot more than I do about whether it’s a good idea or not. They’ve done hundreds of them and I’ve done half a dozen.

SamJez is not quite neurotic about the play after he’s written it. I’m not saying he’s vain about it, but he doesn’t worry about things he can’t control. He tends to say, “I’ve written this play. I’ll trust you.” There’s a sense that you’ve let yourself discover the play and then show it to her. It’s probably the same with Sonia. Jez says, “Look, if you think we can survive in the West End, then let’s open there.”

He’s very Tigger-esque, he makes it clear. His enthusiasm is infectious, and he’s not someone who comes in with a sense of how the game should be in his head. He has an extraordinarily clean objectivity and a certain distance, which is very unusual in my experience and very helpful.

It’s basically the same process in the West End as it is in the Royal Court. The only difference is that if you open at the Court and are lucky enough to go to the West End, there’s a re-drafting moment where you can make a few small changes, which wasn’t the case with this production because it opened straight to the West End. All the fine-tuning is being done now, so the show on Broadway is really the best version of itself.

What kind of editing or tweaking did you do?
Yes: (In the West End) it was clear in a few previews that the first and second acts worked exactly as I wanted them to, and that there was something about the craft of the last act that made the play feel a little distant from the audience. I can’t describe it as anything other than a moment that bothered me. I always think the last acts of my plays should be like bonfires, with all the characters throwing their stuff into the fire and watching it go up, and the heat and light that comes out is what you watch.

I felt like I had accomplished this Jerusalem And Boatmanand I felt like that was achievable in this game, but there was something about the character of Joan and her return that didn’t quite unleash that spirit of defiance and survival rather than victimhood. Sam will tell you; it took about 48 hours. It was clear what needed to be done. I really loved the game as it was, so I was happy to have my own version out there, but I’m really excited about not just the results of the changes, but also being able to appreciate the difference.

There’s another weird thing, and I don’t know what it means, but I’ll give it to you anyway. I never saw my characters as people. So I never worried about their fate. I went home and Rooster Byron Jerusalem). For some reason, I worry about this game as if they were real people. I worry about what’s happening to Veronica, and I worry about what’s happening to the kids. It sounds a little crazy, but I found myself connecting in a completely different way.

Sam: I remember my first public performance BoatmanI look at 23 people on this little stage, children, babies, animals, and I think, “I know all of these people, even the little seven-year-old girl. How did she do that?” It’s not really about me or the actors. You’re dealing with a series of completely imaginary lives, and you’re hearing what happens 24 hours a day. But the sense of the lives before and after is very, very strong. I think that’s one of its greatest gifts. You don’t feel like you’re being told anything; you’re being asked to live in that room with these people.

It seemed to me that this was fate California Hills playing right next to you Gypsy will be, because the themes of the shows—overbearing mothers and daughters, ruthless stage parents—are so similar. Do you see a line between them?
Yes: To be honest, I don’t really know either.

SamJez doesn’t come from Planet Theatre. There were a few moments in rehearsal when I thought of Mama Rose, but this is a very different play. More than half of the play is 20 years later and Gypsy available during the first act California HillsIt’s what it is. I just thought, “Wow, I can’t wait to hear Audra play this, and I’m happy to see that it’s not a re-creation of the original choreography.” In other words, it’s a new production.

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