An intriguing glimpse into a couple's life comes to Dunstable stage

A comical and touching play about the 60-year marriage of a couple in West Yorkshire is taking to the stage courtesy of Dunstable Rep.
Joe Butcher and Jenna Ryder-Oliver are playing the two rolesJoe Butcher and Jenna Ryder-Oliver are playing the two roles
Joe Butcher and Jenna Ryder-Oliver are playing the two roles

Happy Jack is written by the celebrated playwright, John Godber, and is inspired by his own grandparents and their relationship through good times and bad.

The play tells the story of this working class family with snippets of their lives together: the love, sadness, anger, joy and conflict.

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Balancing humour with some tougher realities, the play highlights the lives of working miners and the terrible legacies that many of them were left with long after leaving the pits. Director Angela Goss said: ‘This is the second play I have directed by John Godber about Liz and Jack and I am delighted to be working again with the very talented Jenna Ryder-Oliver and Joe Butcher playing Liz and Jack.

“The play is charming, funny and poignant and Joe and Jenna give sterling performances.’

The British Theatre Guide said of the play: “There’s a truthful timeless quality to this little piece of Yorkshire’s social history that isn’t showing its age at all.”

The play is being staged at the Little Theatre in Dunstable from Friday, May 11 to Saturday, May 19.

Tickets cost £14 or £7 for under-18s. Call 01582 204021, email [email protected] or visit www.littletheatre.org.uk to book or for more information about the show.