Every Brilliant Thing is a one-person play that is, indeed, a brilliant thing. It tells the story of a young person who loses their mother to suicide. She is 17, but was only seven when her mother first attempted to take her own life – and when she began making a list of ‘every brilliant thing’ to try to make her mother happy.
It is such a genuine and innocent response from a child that it made me tear up. I’m sure many parents and grandparents in the audience felt the same way. But as she grows older, the list becomes an endless catalogue of ‘things worth living for,’ from ‘chocolate’ and ‘things with stripes’ to ‘old people holding hands’.
Minnie Driver makes the role her own
The @sohoplace theatre is absolutely perfect for intimate works like this . The seating is in the round’ (actually a rectangle) and there are no barriers between the audience and the action.
Minnie Driver is exceptionally good as the unnamed narrator telling her story. She has a tenderness and humanity that makes the role touching and believable. She gently guides the audience through the emotional highs and lows, taking a breath (literally and metaphorically) when needed, and allowing just the right amount of laughter amidst the emotion.
Every Brilliant Thing was written by Duncan Macmillan with comedian Jonny Donahoe. The play skillfully addresses sensitive issues like suicide, depression and mental illness and the script is intelligent, empathetic, and yes, even funny. (Interestingly, the theatre does have people from the Samaritans on hand for anyone having difficulty dealing with these themes.)
Every Brilliant Thing opened at @sohoplace in August with Lenny Henry in the lead. He was followed by Jonny Donahoe, Ambika Mod and Sue Perkins. Now it’s Minnie Driver’s turn and she absolutely makes the role her own.
You know it’s going to be something a little different when you take your seats 15 minutes before the show and the star is there, chatting to people in the audience. Part of this is working the room but she’s also rounding up volunteers to take part a little later. For most of these, it’s just a matter of saying a few words on cue, though one or two have a bigger part to play.
Driver’s interaction with the audience, both before and during the play itself, was charming and felt very genuine. She showed a real flair for thinking on her feet and had a great sense of comic timing. She delivered a nuanced performance of sensitive stagecraft, and it is one I’ll remember for a long time to come.
Every Brilliant Thing with Minnie Driver continues at @sohoplace in London until 8 November.
Also on ArtsHub: MUSIK review: Billie Trix is brash, bad and beautiful
Almost 25 years ago, Frances Barber starred as Billie Trix in the musical Closer to Heaven written by Jonathan Harvey together with Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe of the Pet Shop Boys. Barber was such a star as Billie that six years ago, the spin-off solo show MUSIK was unleashed at the Edinburgh Fringe. It was a huge hit, having a sell-out season and acquiring a legion of devoted fans.
Now, MUSIK is back in London for a short run at the wonderful Wilton’s Music Hall. It’s a divine shabby-chic venue, the oldest grand music hall in the world, and it’s a perfect setting for Billie’s musical-memoir of a life lived in the maelstrom of celebrity. Like the building itself, Billie shows more than a few signs of age but she’s not dead yet.
In MUSIK, it’s a miracle in itself that Billie Trix is still standing. ‘Born at the edge of hell’ and originally named Hildegard, Billie is dishevelled, angry, unrepentant and snorting large quantities of cocaine, which she washes down with Jack Daniels, neat, usually straight from the bottle. She was her mother’s ‘one regret’ – a ‘little mongrel’ born in war-torn Berlin.
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