The Happiest Man on Earth by Mark St Germain. Southwark Playhouse, the Little, 77 Newington Causeway, London SE1 to 14 December 2024, 4☆☆☆☆. Review: William Russell.

Photo Credit: Daniel Radar..

The Happiest Man on Earth by Mark St Germain. Southwark Playhouse, the Little, 77 Newington Causeway, London SE1 to 14 December 2024,

4☆☆☆☆. Review: William Russell.

“Inspiring and perfectly told.”

Eddie Jaku was a holocaust survivor who, after the war, emigrated with his wife to Australia, had a series of successful business ventures, raised a family, and lived to be a hundred. Kenneth Tiger plays him in this version of his memoir published in 2019 when he reached his centenary which became a best seller. It is a masterly performance. Born in Leipzig Eddie was brought up as a German in spite of his parents living in Belgium as a means of hiding the fact he was Jewish. It did not work, he was arrested and had a most terrible war ending up in Buchenwald and Auschwitz. In 1945 he was sent on a death march by the Nazis intent on cleaning up all trace of what they had been doing. But Eddie survived, was rescued by the Allied soldiers and managed to return to Belgium where he met his wife Flora and lived until 1950 when they emigrated to Australia. He died aged 101 in 1923.

Directed by Ron Lagomarsino the play has been staged successfully in America and now arrives for this London run. It opens with Eddie, or possibly Kenneth Tiger, walking in and chatting to the audience about nothing very much – possibly it is just Tiger slowly assuming the character of the man he will play. Either way it starts us on a journey into horrors not unimaginable as the young man heads into those concentration camps. But Eddie is resilient. He has skills – he is an engineer and falls into the category of prisoner the Nazis wanted kept alive as they could be used to service their war machine rather than dispatched to the gas chambers. He resists. He survives. The result for all the horrors he recalls, which are very hard to listen to, is a story worth telling, his message is one worth heeding. The Little has been transformed – it can be a tricky space at times – and the setting designed by James Noone allows Tiger room to prowl around as he tells his story, holding the audience attention perfectly as he does so. Arguably the play has found its ideal home. Although it is a story about horrors it is also one about survival, about a man who went on to become – as he claimed – not just happy, but possibly the happiest man alive. Holocaust stories have been told many times and can never be told too often. Eddie.s story, inspiring, moving and perfectly told by Tiger, is one that deserves to be read, watched and heeded.

Cast

Kenneth Tiger – Eddie Jaku.

Creatives

Director – Ron Lagomarsino.

Set Designer – James Noone.

Costume Designer – Johanna Pan.

Lighting Desiugner- Harold Burgess.

Sound Designer – Brendan Aanes.