STAY AWAKE, JAKE (Pearson Theatre Productions/Southwark Playhouse)***

By Dave

Link: https://southwarkplayhouse.co.uk/show/stay-awake-jake

Available until: Livestreams on 19^th December at 3.15pm (captioned) and 7.45pm.

The current situation is a great opportunity for people to explore the idea of one-person musicals. Until now they haven’t really been an option as one-person musicals tend to be a bit short for a full evening at a theatre but they work online. Six (while obviously not being a one-person musical) is an obvious exception to the rule about short musicals, I think it’s only 70 minutes and yet people are very happy to pay the highest prices in the West End. But you really need to have a hit on your hands before you think about asking people to go all the way to London just for an hour.

Also, you’d need a seriously big voice (and personality) in order to fill a West End stage on your own, though that issue doesn’t actually apply in this case as the stage at the Southwark Playhouse is a very good size for small-scale works.

But online, one-person musicals work. If all you’re doing is sitting down for an hour, rather than going all the way into London, the length isn’t a problem at all.

Stay Awake, Jake is the latest in a series of very different short works produced by the Southwark Playhouse. It’s by Tim Gilvin (book, music and lyrics) and it’s about a guy called Jake who’s had an argument with his girlfriend Sophia, who’s walked out on him and is refusing to talk to him. Some guys would take the hint but Jake feels they have something worth fighting for. In this sung-through musical, he’s driving to find Sophia and also looking back over their relationship.

The music is played by a pianist (presumably music director Tamara Saringer) and cellist Marta Tobar. The level of the accompaniment suits both the music and the performer, Ahmad Hamad. It’s an introspective musical about thoughts and memories and the music reflects that. There are no big showstoppers, it’s more a continuous stream of tuneful music. But it feels right for the story and Ahmad sings and acts so well, it doesn’t seem as though the musical is lacking in any kind of drama. His situation feels very dramatic, there’s a lot at stake which is something the best musicals need, and there’s a bit of humour in it too.

Maybe ‘musical’ isn’t the right way of describing it. It’s probably more like a song cycle. If you go to a recital somewhere like the Wigmore Hall, you might get a singer performing a song cycle, telling stories, describing thoughts and emotions, but they’ll be standing still the whole time. But it’s hardly boring or lacking in drama (unless I happen not to like the song cycle. There are one or two…). Stay Awake, Jake is like a musical theatre equivalent of a song cycle – and it works. I’d like to see more musicals like this.