Review: The Happiest Man on Earth (Southwark Playhouse Borough)

Review by Eavan Prenter

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Sometimes, in theatre, as in life, everything comes together. Even a one man show really has a cast of many - writer, director, and producer; sound, set, costume and lighting designers - the list goes on, and their work can add up to more than the sum of its parts. So it is in The Happiest Man on Earth at Southwark Playhouse Borough. Adapted from the bestselling memoir of Eddie Jaku and originally produced at the Barrington Stage Company in Pittsfield, MA, every element of this production works together perfectly. The result is a confident piece of theatre that is all the more powerful for its simplicity. 

While the production might be simple, the story is anything but. Born to a proud German Jewish family in 1920, Eddie Jaku hid from the Nazis, was captured, imprisoned, escaped, re-captured, imprisoned, escaped, returned, and escaped before finally reaching safety. He was attacked on Kristallnacht, imprisoned in Buchenwald and Auschwitz, sent on a “death march”, looked Josef Mengele in the eye, and was sent to the gas chambers three times, yet somehow lived to tell the tale. Eddie’s story is unique in the sheer number of twists and turns, as well as in his ingenuity and his luck, and his incredible ability to choose happiness.

For me the sign of really great writing is when you don’t notice it. You don’t think how clever the lines are or how well the structure works, you’re just immersed in the story. There wasn’t a moment of this play where I wasn’t right there with Eddie, which is testament to Mark St. Germain’s incredible work. How he managed to squeeze so much plot into ninety minutes I’ll never know, and yet he still finds space for moments of pause. One particularly powerful moment is when Eddie rolls up his sleeve to show his Auschwitz number tattoo. Kenneth Tigar doesn’t just hold this moment, he takes the time to make sure that every member of the audience sees, confronting us all with his defiant gaze, such is the confidence of his performance as Eddie and Ron Lagomarsino’s direction.

 Moments of stillness like this balance out the action, and somehow amongst everything St. Germain and Lagomarsino find a role for humour, warmth and love. Because the play is really about humanity: how it is stripped from Eddie over and over again, but also how, despite everything, Eddie manages to retain it. In the worst moments, Tigar’s matter of fact delivery gives the horrifying detail even greater impact, and in the best his charm and love of life radiates to the back row.

From start to finish Tigar is Eddie. Like with St. Germain’s script, you can’t see the acting, you can only see the character. He is naturalistic and wholly believable, while also giving a dynamic performance that holds the audience’s attention for the entire play, his energy seemingly unwavering. He acts out daring escapes and dramatic confrontations, aided by Brendan Aanes’ dramatic sound design and ingenious lighting and set by Harold Burgess and James Noone.

 Like so much about this production, it’s difficult to separate the set and the lighting because they are so intertwined. The set is minimal, just a few pieces of wooden furniture in front of a backdrop of wooden slats with strips of light in between, but the impact is big, giving the impression of the inside of a train one minute, a concentration camp cabin the next and a forest the next. And the lighting is cinematic, giving depth to the action from all directions; through the slats, from above and from an impressive looking rig on either side of the stage.

All of this to say that I loved this production. Everything about it worked, and worked together in service of the story which is, in my book, what makes great theatre. At the beginning of the play, Eddie has a question - should he tell his story? Will the audience be able to bear hearing it? Can he bear to tell it? He answers his own question in the end, but I’d already answered it many times over while watching this play.

To face what Eddie faced and lose as much as Eddie lost and come out grateful to wake up on the right side of the grass is inspiring, and to watch that story told with such a deft touch is a gift.

The Happiest Man on Earth plays at Southwark Playhouse Borough until December 14th

For tickets and information visit https://southwarkplayhouse.co.uk/productions/the-happiest-man-on-earth/