Stefan Bednarczyk: An Evening of Jake Thackray

Following his acclaimed one-man shows concentrating on Flanders & Swann, Tom Lehrer, and Noel Coward, Stefan Bednarczyk turned his attention to a show devoted to the great Yorkshire chansonnier Jake Thackray. Active from the mid-’60s to the early ’90s, Thackray’s brilliant songs were never an easy fit for either the folk club circuit or his guest spots on programmes like “That’s Life”. His legacy, however, is a body of work that Stefan believes should be widely celebrated.

Bernard Braden said of him “..he’s a satirist with both bite and compassion. There aren’t very many of them around“. Don Black described him as “… the most unheralded artist in the world”, while the great writer Alan Plater summed up his art saying ” Jake’s work doesn’t ignore the sadness, the melancholy, the loss, but in the end chooses to look the other way, and say let’s laugh at it, because it’s all a big joke, the whole thing is a big, bleak, amazing, surreal joke “. And, all done with extraordinary music and beautiful lyrics ….that is surely something to celebrate!

“It’s always a wonderful surprise when a show is twice as good as you expected it to be, and this lovely evening with the charmingly old-school Stefan Bednarczyk, despite his name a quintessential English gentleman, regaling us with the oh-so-clever work of a half-forgotten singer-songwriter was all that and more.”– Musical Theatre
★ ★ ★ ★ ★

“..a show that is brilliant- funny, touching, unexpected, by turns hilarious and heartbreaking.”– Gyles Brandreth
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
“Far and away the most talented singer-songwriter of his generation.”– International Herald Tribune

“Bednarczyk is a consummate performer – his piano playing is flawless, and he exudes an irresistible charisma .. this is cabaret at its finest”-Musical Theatre Review

“The King Of Cabaret”– BBC R4