Review: EVERY BRILLIANT THING, at @Sohoplace
Danny Kaan
Every Brilliant Thing has been a home run so far for West End Best Friend. Each of the rotating performers has brought something unique and personal to Duncan Macmillan and Jonny Donahoe’s tender, life-affirming play, and tonight, with the last of the line-up to take the stage, Minnie Driver, we are witness to yet another master at their craft taking the reins. Able to hold the space and audience with care over the duration of the show, including the necessary audience interaction at the beginning of the play, she is charming and honest.
Every Brilliant Thing began life at the 2013 Ludlow Fringe Festival as a collaboration between playwright Duncan Macmillan and comedian Jonny Donahoe, later becoming a full-length play at the 2014 Edinburgh Fringe. It has since been performed in over 80 countries worldwide. The story follows a child into adulthood, exploring love, loss, and the lifelong impact of mental health. Literally, Every Brilliant Thing is recorded by the character in a list they begin at seven years old to overcome a difficult family time, a list that grows exponentially. It captures everything from specific pieces of music to neurological anomalies producing unexpected moments: a catalogue of life’s smallest wonders. It’s a list we will all, no doubt, be contributing to, or a sentiment that the world needs.
Told through storytelling and audience participation, the play transforms difficult subjects into something tangible yet hopeful.
This power of this play rests in the way it accepts simplicity and taps into something that resonates with the human condition in a positive way. It champions hope and shows us how something difficult and beautiful can simultaneously exist. This becomes the complexity within the play, no need to embellish its premiss with elaborate production. Driver makes the work her own while allowing it to be wholly accessible.
The play is also incredibly interactive, a form of theatre which can go many different directions and, subjectively, not always the right way. It can overshadow the work if the audience feel too intimidated. Every Brilliant Thing understands its place here is integral to the narrative and curated with great care. Moments of audience panic are scaffolded and become some of the most memorable moments. The stakes are high when playing with the unknown, and it’s used to its advantage. Other voices like a chorus around the space, helps to unify the sentiment of the story with its nuances and aids in visualising characters in a unique way.
Sonically, the music hits too, landing emotionally and rhythmically at just the right times to carry us through the shifts in tone and feeling. The music throughout is carefully woven into the narrative and soundtracks the work simultaneously; it’s a clever and powerful addition, with soul music and the love of vinyl both metaphorically and literally warming the space as one of the many brilliant things that brings joy and, or, immense emotion. Its in-the-round staging enhances the intimacy, as does the warm lighting that allows the audience to remain visible throughout.
As with the other performers in this limited-run season; Lenny Henry, Jonny Donahoe, Ambika Mod, and Sue Perkins, Driver demonstrates the versatility and universality of Every Brilliant Thing. The casting is faultless, and the sense of community it cultivates within grief, hope, and mental health deserves the status it’s claiming for itself.
Five Stars *****
Reviewed by Stephanie Osztreicher
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