The Good Companions The Good Companions The Good Companions is a novel by the English author J. B. Priestley. Written in 1929 (in Deal, Kent), it focuses on the trials and tribulations of a concert party in England between World War I and World War II. It is arguably Priestley's most famous novel, and the work which established him as a national figure. It won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize and was adapted twice into film. The novel is written in picaresque style, and opens with the middle aged, discontented Jess Oakroyd in the fictional Yorkshire town of Bruddersford. He opts to
The Good Companions (musical) marries her solicitor, Susie heads to the West End, Inigo makes a fortune with his music, and Jess Oakroyd departs for Ontario, Canada to visit his daughter. After a tryout in Manchester, "The Good Companions" opened on July 11, 1974 at Her Majesty's Theatre in London and ran for 252 performances. The cast included John Mills as Jess Oakroyd, Judi Dench as Elizabeth Trant, Christopher Gable as Inigo Jollifant, Marti Webb as Susie Dean, Malcolm Rennie as Morton Mitcham, and Ray C. Davis as Jerry Jerningham. Webb replaced Celia Bannerman at short notice during the Manchester tryout when it was