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Happy Jack
by John Godber
Directed by Robert McWhir
Landor Theatre
22 October – 8 November, 2008
A review by Aisha Walters for EXTRA! EXTRA!
John Godber’s Happy Jack is the love story of Liz and Jack Munroe. Sarah Langrish-Smith (Liz) and Simon Naylor (Jack) narrate the story for us, playing the roles of the two lovers, plus the many supporting roles used to depict this character study. Jack is a big, burly man’s man who’d ‘have yer’ in a fight, he has spent his life working down the pit trying to provide for his kin. Liz’s life is her family and while Jack certainly is the master of their home, she more than knows how to stand her ground. The drama of this play unfolds backwards, with the story starting at the end of their lives and ending with how Jack asked Liz on their first date. Before Act One was a prologue where Langrish-Smith and Naylor as themselves shattered the fourth wall and spoke to the audience about Jack and Liz’s relationship from their childhood days to the end of their lives. Introducing each other, Langrish-Smith and Naylor dressed the set. Taking the dust sheets off the two arm chairs that resided centre stage and hanging the curtains on the window frame, Langrish-Smith and Naylor changed from their outfits of t-shirts and jeans and transformed into Liz and Jack. Langrish-Smith and Naylor gave committed performances throughout the evening and were wholly believable as the northern lovers. Throughout the play both actors aged 40 years, which is a hard feat without the trickery of make-up and wigs. However Langrish-Smith and Naylor pulled this off convincingly, transporting the audience into the intimate world of their characters. Godber’s writing is subtle in its intent. Using a realistic approach to portray each scene, the audience are allowed to make their own minds up on the couple’s relationship. Though, I suspect that most onlookers left the theatre with the impression that the marriage of Liz and Jack was one to envy. Even though Happy Jack is a short play each scene of this production confirmed Liz and Jack’s strong relationship. Whether charting their quiet nights in listening to records or their honeymoon in Blackpool, Godber constructed each line of dialogue so that the good nature of the characters and a great deal of wit could be imparted to the audience throughout the play’s duration. From Yorkshire himself, clearly writing of a world he knew was a benefit to Godber, as he has created a piece of work that is a pleasure to watch. One could almost say the set was another character in the play. With very little on stage bar the two arm chairs, a fireplace and a shelf full of props to one side. Just by turning the chairs to face each other they became a bath, or by Liz and Jack sitting on their edge with a dangling candle between them it was then, the scene of a romantic dinner. Lighting Designer Martin Terry also helped create these changing atmospheres with his flicking fire lighting Liz and Jack’s faces in a scene where they sat at home, or the low light in the cinema scene when Jack so tenderly touched Liz’s hand. Terry’s lighting accompanied every scene beautifully, cementing the relationship being depicted onstage. Director Robert McWhir seemed to get everything right with this production: an endearing cast, a simple yet appealing set and a play that leaves you with a smile on your face. This was very enjoyable evening and may have been my first but will by no means be my last visit to the Landor.
Box Office: 020 7737 7276 Tickets: £10, £8 concessions Landor Theatre
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ary Couzens