play
This is the second Duncan MacMillan play I read
recently and I continue to be amazed by his brilliance and impressed by
his fearlessness in tackling difficult subjects with skill and
compassion. I will absolutely be hunting down more of his plays to add
to my reading (and, hopefully, watching) list.
Every Brilliant Thing is unique in many ways, particularly in the need for the singular
cast member - the Narrator - to be able to improvise and interact with
the audience on a daily basis, while discussing what could be a very
challenging topic, and still keep things entertaining and, dare I say,
uplifting and hopeful.
The Narrator creates a list of brilliant
things in order to help their mother cope with depression after a
suicide attempt. The list's creation guides the Narrator and the one-act
play through discussions of suicide, mental health and the importance
of connection. It was incredibly powerful to read and I can only imaging
how moving it is to see performed live. There is a lot of room in the
script for the Narrator to be a man or a woman, for the freedom to make
choices depending on how particular audience members react and interact
with the Narrator, and yet the story arc is so clear and so wonderfully
written, I imagine you could see the show many times and always find
something new in it.
This is a truly beautiful play. I hope I'll get to see it performed sooner rather than later. It's currently playing on Broadway, and since writing this review I watched the brilliant Jonny Donahoe's version that is airing on HBO Max. It was as moving as I anticipated, but I'm so glad I read it first.
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