Happiest man resurrected on stage

Eddie Jaku’s inspirational survivor memoir came at the right moment to lift spirits at the height of the Covid pandemic, winning the 2021 Australian Book Industry’s Biography of the Year. 

The Australian stage adaptation of The Happiest Man on Earth seems equally well-timed, poised to elevate moods after the horror years of the Hamas invasion, the Sydney Opera House mob and the Bondi Beach massacre. 

This reflection comes from Michael Jaku, the elder of the late Eddie Jaku’s two sons.  

The Australian production of The Happiest Man on Earth, a one-man stage show from Monstrous Theatre and Shalom Collective, is set to premiere at the Playhouse, Sydney Opera House, on May 17-19, with prospects firming for Melbourne performances early in 2027. 

A retired automotive engineer and real estate agent, Jaku was an energetic centenarian with a youthful demeanour. “[He] didn’t know how old he was,” recalls younger son Andre Jaku. 

The book, published when Eddie Jaku was aged 100, sold 400,000 copies and appeared in some 40 languages. 

His philosophy was summed up in his declaration that, even after the Shoah, “happiness is a choice”.  

The book came about because the publisher saw a book in Jaku’s inspiring TED talk on the subject. Some years later, playwright Mark St Germain read the book and saw the potential for a play, which premiered in the US and is now coming to Australia.