Happy Jack – by John Godber

Set in a West Yorkshire mining village, Happy Jack is about the lives of Jack and Liz Munroe.

It is inspired by John Godber’s own grandparents and follows the couple’s 40 year marriage through the good times and bad.

The play weaves its way through this ordinary family, telling snippets of their lives together, the love, sadness, anger, joy and conflict. Balancing humour with some tougher realities, it highlights the lives of working miners and the terrible legacies that many were left with long after leaving the pits.

Jack was a collier until ill health stopped him from working. Liz, on marriage, ceased being in service and became a housewife – cleaning the council house from attic to cellar everyday.

Told uniquely in reverse, we first meet Jack and Liz in their sixties not long before their deaths, and the play ends as Jack asks Liz out for the first time.

All effectively set to the music of their time: Mario Lanza, Alma Cogan, The Ink Spots and Johnny Ray among others.

One of Godber’s earlier works, Happy Jack has found itself suddenly relevant and powerful. It shows a fascinating snapshot of a time and a community that no longer exists.

It’s an emotional and moving look at a lifestyle that may never be with us again, a way of life lost forever – annual family seaside holidays, coach trips, working men’s clubs, Mr & Mrs competitions, Blackpool rock, saucy seaside postcards and organ recitals in ballrooms.