Jasper Jones Belvoir Street

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Last week I had the absolute pleasure of going to see the stage version of Jasper Jones, a fantastic book that I read 5 or so years ago. I never blogged about Jasper Jones at the time, which was a bit of a shame, because I loved it so, and now I don't remember all that many details of the book. I remembered the start, the setting, and zombie cheeses, and that I loved every single word- even the quite detailed cricket match! And I really loathe cricket. But I didn't remember most of the story, or even who dunnit in the end.

Jasper Jones is an amazing tale of growing up in a small Western Australian town in 1965. Charlie Bucktin is 14 years old, and a bit of a geek, he reads a lot and doesn't get up to any trouble. His life changes forever when town bad boy Jasper Jones comes knocking on his window late one night. There are major events unfolding in the town and Jasper and Charlie end up right in the thick of it.

All of the adult actors did an amazing job of their juvenile roles. It was a particularly funny play, but not in the least light weight, the big emotive moments were really well done too. I hadn't been to Belvoir Street since my uni days in the 90s, so it was nice to go back there too, although I did think it was in totally the wrong suburb- such are the vagaries of memory. The staging was very clever, I particularly loved how the tree changed from scene to scene.

This stage version only lasts until Feb 7 (and most of it is sold out anyway), I'm so glad I got to see it. There is a movie version of Jasper Jones due out later this year starring Hugo Weaving and Toni Collette as Charlie's parents, Levi Miller as Charlie, and Aaron McGrath as Jasper Jones. I'm not very good at recognising actors, but Aaron McGrath has been everywhere lately - Glitch and Ready for This, and I think he'll make a great Jasper. I've bought myself a new hard back copy of Jasper Jones, and am definitely planning to read it again before the movie comes out. Now just to find the time.

OOPS. I've just seen the film, and Hugo Weaving plays Mad Jack Lionel, not Charlie's Dad- he is played by Dan Wyllie.