The Never-Never Nest –
Cedric Mount
The one-act Play “The Never-Never Nest” is a comedy about a
young, naive couple, Jack and Jill. They believed in buying things in instalments.
When Aunt Jane visited the couple, she found them leading a luxurious
lifestyle. The play brings out the buy-now-pay-later marketing system which
enables the low-income group to own things, which they cannot buy easily on
their own. On the other hand, the system also makes people extravagant and
makes them fall into the habit of borrowing.
Jack and Jill was a young married couple who had a small
baby. Jill was a housewife. Jack and Jill had purchased a villa in New
Hampstead, a car, furniture, a radiogram, a piano and a refrigerator. Aunt Jane,
a relative of Jack and Jill visited their new house. She was surprised to find
that they lived in a beautiful house with all the comforts. She found it hard
to believe that Jack could afford to buy all these things. She was worried that
she had given them 2000 pounds as a wedding gift instead of 200 pounds. At this
point, Jack informed her that they had bought their house and all the expensive
things on an instalment basis.
Aunt Jane understood that though Jack and Jill had
everything, they did not own anything. Only a steering wheel of the car, a wheel
and two cylinders had been paid for. And, only one leg of the sofa that Aunt
Jane sat on, belonged to them. Jack’s salary was six pounds a week, but the
total amount of instalments he had to pay was seven pounds eight and eight
pence. When Aunt Jane asked how he could pay the extra money, Jack said that
they could always take a loan from Thrift and Providence Trust Corporation.
Again, the loan had to be paid back in instalments. Aunt Jane was glad that
Jack and Jill had everything, but she didn’t like the idea of borrowing money
to pay the instalments.
Aunt Jane was shocked at the way Jack and Jill lived in
debt. Aunt Jane believes that one should not owe money to anyone in life. She
believed that one should spend less than what he earned. She refused to sit on
Jack’s sofa and travel in his car because the sofa and car were only partly
owned by Jack and Jill. She scolded them severely and asked Jack to take her to
the bus station. Before she left, she gave them a cheque for ten pounds and told
them to use it to make at least one thing completely their own.
While Jack went with Aunt Jane, Jill sent the money to Dr
Martin. Jack came back and said that they should use the money given by Aunt
Jane to pay the instalments on the car. But Jill said that she had already used
it to pay the last instalment to the doctor. According to them, they had
purchased their baby from Dr Martin in instalment. Finally, Jack and Jill
become complete owners of their baby. The end of the play is ironical. The play
is a satire on the materialistic bent of modern man.
The ‘nest’ in the title refers to the home of birds. Birds
take a lot of time and work very hard to build their nest. But, in this play,
both Jack and Jill have instant gratification for luxuries by instalments
without saving any money. The double negative in the title emphasizes the
impossibility of home.
The play criticizes the new
trend of young middle-class couples who have the habit of buying many household
items and houses in easy instalments. The playwright feels that such couples
would make a nest easily, but they will never settle happily.
Courtesy:
http://gnceng.blogspot.com/2018/12/the-never-never-nest-cedric-mount.html
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