Duncan Macmillan’s play Every Brilliant Thing has been performed in 80 countries around the world and now makes its West End premiere @sohoplace.
With a cast of rotating actors including Lenny Henry, Sue Perkins and Minnie Driver, you’ll see a different take on the play depending on who you see. Last night was the turn of This Is Going To Hurt star Ambika Mod.
A young girl lives through her mothers depression and suicide attempts and decides to write a list of Every Brilliant Thing she can think of, in order to remind her mother of all the things there are to be grateful for in life.
As the list grows, so does she, maturing through her own difficulties in life. The one constant thing in her life is the list, which keeps on growing and becomes a crutch.
Before the show starts, Ambika is milling around the audience, talking to people and enlisting them to take part in the show by shouting out the ‘brilliant thing’ written on a piece of card when their number is called during the show. There is a method as to which area of the audience has which numbered cards and you can see the mental choreography taking place inside her head before the show begins.
However, this caused the show to start twenty minutes late and had me dizzy from wondering what was happening before the show even began. When you lose your audiences attention before the show even begins, it is tough to win them back over but this isn’t the performers fault here .
Whilst this is a one-person play, the audience are very much involved – playing other characters throughout the story. This is a nice touch whereas the brilliant things being shouted out from the crowd left me constantly trying to identify who was speaking (distracting me from the actual story being told).
Every Brilliant Thing is a fragmented story, which made me lose all sense of time and I couldn’t tell if I had been watching it for nine minutes or ninety minutes. It may be a well written piece (I adored Duncan Macmillan’s People, Places and Things) but the direction left me unable to focus on the story.
Ambika Mod is a wonderful performer though and I am delighted I can say I got to see her on stage!
★★★
West End Wilma
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