Comedy Review: Jackson's Way @ Soho Theatre

Franco Milazzo
By Franco Milazzo Last edited 165 months ago

Last Updated 11 January 2011

Comedy Review: Jackson's Way @ Soho Theatre

Ever wondered what the point is?

American life coach Chris John Jackson can help you answer that very question by using Holmesian logic: when you have recognised everything pointless in your life, whatever remains, however small, must be the point.

Jackson's methodology, modestly named Jackson's Way, is highly interactive.  Based on his legendary books Jackson: Just A Man and Maximum Jackson: Two Weeks With The Man, he sweats buckets as he urges us to Push Through with Intensity(tm) in an effort to discover the most pointless things to do and say.  Anyone who has been on a management training course will be staggered by the eerie accuracy as the most stupid things are said with complete conviction with the aid of Powerpoint.  He readily enlists the audience in his prescribed activities (or Jactions) including willing a towel to defy gravity by shouting out the name of someone's first friend and playing a physical version of Mornington Crescent using a completely random selection of household objects.

Does Jackson know what he's doing?  No.  He admits as much a la Rumsfeld: "I know I don't know but at least I do know that." Jackson is a man on a mission.  We caught him partway through his own marathon of sorts; his "Jacksathon" will call in on 26.2 London venues in as many days.  The venues themselves vary from the Royal Court and Somerset House to a theatre space under Waterloo station and under a Westway flyover.

The show blends the completely absurd with the utterly profound in much the same way as Douglas Adams or Monty Python.  Will Adamsdale's creation stormed to Perrier victory in the 2004 Edinburgh Fringe Festival, raising smiles and eyebrows in equal measure along the way and his latest tour promises to do the same.  It's a challenging affair: a few audience members left before the end but more fool them as Jackson is a hilarious character with a point to make.

More information on the Jacksathon is available via the official Jackson "powersite". Or see here for the official Jackson's Way trailer.