Jess and Joe Forever

by Zoe Cooper

Meet Jess and Joe. They want to tell you their story. Joe is Norfolk born and bred and wears wellies. Jess holidays there with her au pair and is slightly too tubby for her summer dresses. They are miles apart even when they stand next to each other. This is a story of growing up, fitting in (or not), boys, girls, secrets, scotch eggs and maybe even love, but most of all, it’s about friendship. Spanning several summer holidays, Jess and Joe Forever is an unusual coming of age tale that explores rural life and what it means to belong somewhere, if you can really belong anywhere. A layered and thoughtful play about finding your place in the world when you only know a small corner of it. This edition was published to coincide with House Theatre's production at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh in 2017.

Genres: Plays

66 pages, Paperback

Published August 3, 2017

Reviews

[Doug · Rating 3 out of 5]

By all rights I should have detested this (as I pretty much did the other two plays by Cooper I have read), since it contains several of my theatrical bête noires: 1. direct address to the audience 2. adult actors having to portray children 3. two acters portraying several roles each. 4. a trans story told by a cis gendered author.

However - it wasn't all awful! Color me surprised.

https://www.theguardian.com/stage/201...
https://www.broadwayworld.com/westend...
https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/th...
https://www.timeout.com/sydney/theatr...

[Alicia · Rating 5 out of 5]

There’s quite a lot of layers to this play.

First of all, I enjoyed how imperfect and realistic the characters felt. These qualities just made them so relatable which, to me, is one of the most important elements that any coming of age story must have, characters you can see yourself in.

I was pleasantly surprised when I realised that Joe was a trans boy and how that was a main part of his own journey but also didn’t feel like the entirety of his story, which its main core is his friendship and bond with Jess. It’s so nice to see diversity being represented as such an organic and natural part of the plot.

Jess’s character also surprised me. It was interesting to see her journey as this stuck up posh girl who all of a sudden becomes less wealthy and has to face the reality of her parents eventually splitting up. And I love how much love she has for Joe.

I enjoyed how the heart of the story is their friendship and how that eventually evolved into such a cute love story. The tone of the play knows when to make you laugh just at the right time mainly through Jess and Joe’s banter which added a nice balance considering I also cried a few times during the more emotional scenes. I became so attached to them throughout the whole thing that now I want a second play to check on them and see how they’re doing.

[kp · Rating 5 out of 5]

My goodness gracious. Jess and Joe will stick with me for quite some time. Transformation in the edge of the sea, in the beach foam in Norfolk.

I'd like to make three comparisons to other novels that are touching in similar ways:
- Eggs by Jerry Spinelli
- Normal People by Sally Rooney
- I'll Get There. It Better Be Worth the Trip. by John Donovan

[Meg Robinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a gorgeous play about friendship, growing up and the class system within England. The discovery of this being a trans story is done so beautifully that it will leaving you wanted a second and possibly third read!

[Rea Bailey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was such an easy read, I loved the way it was written, reminded me of another play called Wolfie. I would just love to see this live!