By the end of Young and Jackson you’re in the mood for a bit of a knees-up. This adorable production of Don Reid’s prequel to Codgers delicately recreates Melbourne in 1945, set in Chloe’s Bar in the city’s favourite hotel. Just before two young navvies are sent off up north to see action against the Japanese they spend a few unforgettable weeks staying at the Young and Jackson pub. The Yanks are in town and the Japanese are on the doorstep. Golly gee whizz there’s some talent involved: the four characters, Jimmy (Jacon Machin), Keith (Charlie Cousins) Lorna (Gabrielle Scawthorn), and Sam Duncan as Les knock up against each other in a story that unravels bravado and sends innocence flying. Each performer brings a sincerity and gusto to their role, doing as much as they possibly can with the script which doesn’t always allow for subtlety but gives us a wonderful sense of the time. Direction, by the wide-ranging Wayne Harrison (holding up the bar throughout) is masterful. The staging makes terrific use of the space in fortyfivedownstairs, it’s replete with atmosphere and you can’t complain about a show that starts off having sat you down with a bottle of beer and a jug of lemon squash.
“This is based on real people,” my companion observed, and she was right, or at least that’s what the epilogue would have us believe.The character of Lorna is especially intriguing. She refuses to allow the boys to objectify her although they’re desperate to get her into bed she makes them appreciate her as a human being first. She’s grieving a loss of her own and knows this is the boys’ last hurrah before the possible end of their too short lives and she’s determined to be generous. Detailed attention to idiomatic language brings the play to life, and it neatly balances light and dark, although it has to be said that something goes a bit flat after the interval. A plot development is needed somewhere along the way. But the pace picks up again, V-day finally arrives and we get to hear what happens to the characters after the war. Some contemporary issues are touched on, to with post- traumatic stress which is still not handled well and the role of women – we see the beginnings of liberation that the two world wars brought to the lives of women. Young and Jackson is a truly charming production, and also a celebration of the much loved nude portrait which features in the play as a metaphor for the fleeting beauty of youth. You simply must go to Young and Jackson afterwards and raise a glass to Chloe.
BY LIZA DEZFOULI
