Building Jerusalem, Vol. 1 Book

Walker is one of my favorite living playwrights. Despite the crude violence and language that is sprinkled throughout, his work elevates humor to its darkest and most insightful level. "The East End Plays: Pts. 1 & 2" together represent some of his most potent writing. Watching petty criminals orbit each other in cheap hotel rooms lays bare the futility of human endeavor in the most hilarious way. You'll spend half your time trying to diagnose the mental proclivities of the characters, and the other half laughing at the ridiculous tactics they try to get out of the messes they create. His words jump off the page, alive in your mind as if the show were being staged somewhere in your frontal cortex. Honestly, these plays are downright funny - not because they mock the mental health of their characters, but because they represent mental issues accurately as leading to real-world dilemmas that we can all relate to. The fact they effectively carry deeper messages about habit, routine and mental health demonstrates Walker's strengths as a storyteller.