The play begins with Fawcett and Parsons coming to Johnny's caravan in order to serve a notice of eviction to him. We see that Johnny 'Rooster' is clearly not a normal man as he enjoys a breakfast of milk, vodka, speed, and an egg. Butterworth creates a portrait of what society deems acceptable. Byron allows kids to drink and do drugs with him, he sleeps with housewives and provides drugs to anyone who needs them. On top of that, though, is a society that wants to evict him out of the forest in which he has lived for 20 years in order to build a community of homes. It becomes an uncertain tale of right and wrong as everyone is doing the wrong things, but when a community of people gather together they are capable of taking what they want.
What they are taking is far more than a plot of land, the symbolism in their action to evict Rooster and build a community of homes has to do with the destruction of nature. How there is great beauty and mystery that lies within the forest, but people don't care for that, they want progress; more more more and they are going to get it.
In addition to this, Butterworth asks the question as to where our children are safest: at home or out in the forest with Byron? The interpretations of this can be vast, but the playwright is calling into question our values as a society and our ability to look truthfully at what is happening around us. The character of Phaedra represents how kids are not protected in their own homes anymore, and thus turn to a place that seems safe to them, even if by all standards it isn't.
The through-line of magic and power in the play relates to the lack of understanding as to where we have come from. We are moving forward, bulldozing forest after forest when we have no idea what the history of the land is, and the value that it holds.
