Theatre / paines plough
Review: Every Brilliant Thing
This brilliant show is simply a narrator (Jonny Donahoe), a stage in the round, and an audience full of characters. It is also a play about depression, and what you do when someone you love ‘does something stupid’.
In the case of this seven-year-old boy, what he does is to start a list, for his mum, of every brilliant thing that makes life worth living: and that list becomes the structure of the play, revealing the narrator’s age and attitudes (now he likes juice, later alcohol; further on tea and biscuits appear).
The list, which runs into the thousands, helps him profess his love for his student crush; it keeps him going through depression; and it’s how he articulates his changing emotions.
But for us in the theatre, it’s also what binds us together as an audience, as we all contribute items in the list and even lines from the play. Donahoe, who co-wrote the script with Duncan MacMillan, conducts us like an orchestra playing in a very safe space. Who knew that this Factory Theatre audience would have so many characters – or that our contributions could be quite so laugh-out-loud funny?
Donahoe plays the storyteller as eager but never self-obsessed, with a gentle likeability. He is the enthusiastic host at a student party – you feel welcome even though you’ve never met him before. George Perrin’s well-paced direction has Donahoe racing to include each corner of the theatre and eking out the humour and pathos in the finely balanced narrative. Snatches of song and a nod to props create place and add some texture.
Co-producer Paines Plough calls itself the national theatre of new plays: this one will be new every night. And as far as evenings go, this is a practically perfect piece of theatre.
Every Brilliant Thing continues at the Factory Theatre until Saturday, October 10. For more info and to book tickets, visit www.tobaccofactorytheatres.com/shows/detail/every_brilliant_thing
Our top newsletters emailed directly to you
