Photo: Michaela Bodlovic
A solo performance about depression and suicide that’s heavily reliant on audience participation: for many, it might seem like a recipe for a ghastly night at the theatre. But add the presence of comedian Jonny Donahoe and a narrative that mixes succour with sorrow, and suddenly you have a work that’s light without being slight, and deliciously bittersweet.
When a young boy’s chronically depressed mother attempts suicide, he sets out to bolster her will to live by making her a list of every brilliant thing in the world: ice cream, roller-coasters, things with stripes, the colour yellow. He leaves the list on his mother’s pillow, and even though she never says she’s read it, he knows she has: she’s corrected his spelling.
As he grows older, he adds to the list – hairdressers who listen to what you want, liking someone who might like you back, a bongo solo in a Curtis Mayfield song, palindromes – but somehow, by the time he has reached adulthood himself, the list’s contents have begun to pall. Not even entry number 9997, watching someone watch your favourite movie, brings him any joy for long. But somehow he finds the will to persevere.
Fresh from a season at Perth International Arts Festival, Every Brilliant Thing is performed in the round, and the theatre remains fully lit throughout – just as the play evokes tragedy while keeping the darkness at bay.
As the audience is seated, Donahoe presents many of them with a piece of paper on which is written a number and a word or a phrase, which they are requested to read out when the appropriate number is called. Donahoe’s affable presence makes for a welcoming, non-threatening atmosphere. He also displays a remarkable memory – even before a number is called, he has seemingly made eye contact with the appropriate audience member, encouraging their contribution to the list.
For some, the audience participation extends further – they might be called upon to play the boy’s father, his childhood therapist, even the vet who comes to put down his ailing dog, Sherlock Bones. The atmosphere Donahoe and director George Perrin create between them ensure that people willingly contribute – on opening night, none seemed uncomfortable or cajoled, though one performance felt a little mawkish, out of kilter with the overall tone of the show – always a risk when calling upon the public’s contribution.
The occasional narrative flourish, such as a line describing the audience as a self-help group, feels contrived, but overall Every Brilliant Thing is an astute, engaging and deftly rendered production that finds the sweet spot between comedy and tragedy. It acknowledges pain without being overwhelming, and generates nostalgia without ever being cloying. And like all the best fictions, it feels effortlessly, absolutely real.
Rating: 4 stars out of 5
Every Brilliant Thing
Written by Duncan Macmillan with Jonny Donahoe
Directed by George Perrin
Performed by Jonny Donahoe
Malthouse Theatre, Southbank
malthousetheatre.com.au
8-20 March 2016
