The Good Companions

This is one of JB Priestley's most popular works, a long novel set in the 1920s in England, about a concert party, a form of entertainment which was well known then. These were fairly second rate actors, comics and dancers and singers who provided amusement in provincial towns, and particularly in seaside resorts. They performed songs, comic skits and occsionally did some acting, but it was mostly variety. They were looked down on by the well to do, and the sophisticated, but when cinemas were still relatively new, and people did not have the money to go to London, they were a way of finding amusement and entertainment. The novel starts with the introduction of three characters who are outside the Pierrot world, and who join in with a concert party. One is Jess Oldroyde, a Yorkshire working man who gets on badly with his wife and son, and misses his daughter Lily, who has married and gone to Canada. Jess gets in a kerfuffle with a drunken man, on his way home from a visit, and he thinks that the law are looking out for him. Scared, he decides to leave his town and go travelling which he has always wanted to do. But he is robbed of his small bit of money and then meets up with the concert party who need a man to do props and stage carpentry. He has never been far away from Yorkshire, and is delighted to find an occupation which pleases him and gives him a chance to travel and see the shows. The other 2 are Elizabeth Trant, and Inigo Jollifant. She is a middle class spinster who has recently lost her father and has moved from the family home to a smaller house. She has a modest income and some capital and she had decided to go on a motoring holiday, after moving house. Her sister and brother are horrified when she becomes friendly with the concert party and decides to take on their managment, even though she does not have much money and knows nothing about theatres or touring. Inigo was a master at a small prep school where he was under paid, bored and ill fed and he decided to walk out and go on a tour around England and get material for a book. He liked to play piano and write songs, so when he mets up with the concert party who have been stranded with no manager or money, he takes on the role of piano player.