” Berezin plays Jaku kindly and softly, recounting his experiences without pulling punches but also without dwelling too long on the evils and horrors. ”
Julia Newbould
4 Stars
Venue : Playhouse, Sydney Opera House
Dates: 12-17th May 2026
It must be difficult to portray with conviction someone whom many of the audience had met, but Anton Berezin captures the spirit of well-known Holocaust survivor Eddie Jaku to perfection. A constant on the theatre scene, Berezin co-produces this production with his Monstrous Theatre partner and wife Theresa Borg, who directs this play.
Borg, also an accomplished singer, actress, writer and producer, has brought this play to life with humour, pathos, and great pacing.
Monstrous Theatre has produced a run of Jewish plays in recent times, including Yentl and Anne Being Frank. While they are Jewish plays, they have universal themes running through them of gender inequality and personal survival through adversity.
The Happiest Man on Earth is a monologue based on the life of Eddie Jaku OAM, a Jewish Holocaust survivor who preached that he did not carry hate in his heart, even for Hitler. He would never forgive him but he couldn’t afford to let hate rule his life. It is a valuable lesson, and one he enjoyed teaching the many schoolchildren, and some adults, who heard him speak at the Jewish Museum – a living history for the students.
In 2020, at the age of 100, Jaku published his memoir The Happiest Man on Earth on which the play is based. Mark St.Germain has translated his memoir excellently for the stage. Jaku survived not one but four concentration camps, and a death march. He lost his parents,
home, and family and friends during the war but was lucky to survive through his technical skills which were valued by the Nazis.
Designer Sophie Woodward’s set is very clever and economical. There are two buildings – one a home, the other represents a prison, station, workplace, school. There is a backdrop of a city which is lit to reflect the events, red for bloodshed for example. Props are cleverly
incorporated into the play with a ladder serving multiple purposes, from ladder, to latrine, to train floor, and more.
Woodward’s costuming of Eddie is also clever, with multiple layers of clothing placing Eddie in different circumstances with a simple removal or addition of, say, a vest or jumper. A shout out to makeup designer Fiona Cooper-Sutherland for transforming Berezin into Jaku
with her makeup design. He was truly transformed. Finnegan Comte-Harvey’s use of lighting made the most of the pared-down staging.
Jaku (Berezin) steps down from the stage to engage with the front-row audience before the play begins. Through this small action, he evokes the spirit of Jaku who had an easy way of winning over his audiences at the Jewish Museum. The story is engaging, Berezin’s delivery enthralling. Berezin then climbs back onto the stage and starts recounting the story of Eddie’s life. His mannerisms, accent, and delivery are excellent. A consummate performer, as he potters around the stage engaging with the props, the story flows easily. Jaku’s story begins at his happy family home in Leipzig, Germany, where he lived with his parents, sister, and pet dog. He and his family are proud Germans and love their country. They are also proud Jews – German Jews. They are close to their neighbours and as proud Germans want to see their country recover from the ruin it endured after their defeat in the First World War.
But while they see the need for the country to regain some strength, they see red flags with Hitler coming to power. First Eddie is expelled from school, he then has to take a fake identity to allow him to study in another town, where he needs to board in an orphanage. On Kristallnacht, Jaku is beaten bloody by stormtroopers and soon after the family decides to escape to Belgium. While in Germany they are outcasts and unwanted as Jews, in Belgium they are unwanted as Germans. From there, the family is split up and sent to camps. Eddie recounts friendships, hardships and opportunities he is offered.
It’s a difficult role to play; Eddie as a character needs to be believable yet show strength of survival and the ability to rise above the recriminations and hate that he must have had to fight. However, Berezin plays Jaku kindly and softly, recounting his experiences without pulling punches but also without dwelling too long on the evils and horrors. It’s a tough story to hear, and especially now. And Eddie is very clear that it wasn’t just evil men who perpetrated acts of horror and evil, but his neighbours and “friends”.
However, it’s important to remember why the story was told – and where it was told. It first breathed life at the Jewish Museum whose purpose is to educate young people about hate and how episodes like the Holocaust should never happen again. To still promote love
despite everything Eddie endured is an incredible legacy.
Monstrous Theatre has done an admirable job in bringing his story to life.
4 stars
photos by by Vicki Lauren Photography
Julia Newbould, Theatre Now
