MADMAN
A Solo Show
By Jake Austin Robertson
"To call Jake Austin Robertson’s “Madman” a solo performance is to mislead; it’s a tour de force populated by a vibrant cast of distinct characters who seamlessly emerge, one from the other, through a single conduit who is both skilled and fearless in his delivery...
...I have not witnessed as powerful a performance in a solo work since John Leguizamo’s masterpiece, “Mambo Mouth.” Mr. Robertson’s brave willingness to share his story is the stuff that true art is made of."
Nadia Asencio, All About Solo
"See this play if you like tight acting and story. This play is constructed like the inside of a microorganism...
...two high-quality narratives twist together like steel cables. It’s a feat for Jake and a treat for us."
Austin Kaiser, All About Solo
MADMAN debuted Off-Broadway (Theatre Row) at the United Solo Festival in 2018, where it became a Festival Bestseller, Critic's Choice and winner of "Best Emerging Actor".
MADMAN is a reinvention of my 2015 Princeton theater thesis. It’s 2007 and the 14-year-old Jake is secretly in love with another boy in his class. He suffers in isolation, hiding his queerness from a loving but flawed family and a conservative smalltown community, until he discovers a magic Russian book that leads him on an unbelievable journey to escape from himself.
With dozens of characters from Imperial Russian pen-pushers and pompous poodles, to Spanish kings and Midwestern moms, MADMAN combines my own autobiography with the magical realism of Nikolai Gogol's Diary of a Madman. I decided to make this show not just for myself, but for the kid I used to be and for kids like him, who are struggling to escape from who they are. It’s for people who find solace in the pages of their favorite books, for anyone who has read a story and found themselves lurking in its chapters. MADMAN is a tale where pain runs headfirst into laughter; where love is married to lies; and where absurdity is vigorously making out with reality.
Trailer
Full Show
