The musical by Andrew Lippa and Tom Greenwald has been revamped in a new production at the Southwark Playhouse, directed by Guy Retallack. John & Jen is an ambitious piece of theatre.
We’re introduced to John and Jen in the 1980s as brother and sister, and the first act follows their stories through school and college, going out into the real world as adults.
Act two is very different – we’re still following the same Jen, but she’s older and has had a son that she’s named John after her brother – so we follow the mother-son narrative after the interval.
By the end of the show things are brought right up to the present day with talk shows being hosted via Zoom – so we’re covering the events of some 35 years in around two hours.