‘Every Brilliant Thing’ – Ambika Mod sparkles in play that requires active audience participation
This classic play about clinical depression is currently enjoying a West End run with five actors appearing on different dates…
By Suman Bhuchar
STAGED across the world and seen in 80 countries ‘Every Brilliant Thing is a heartfelt story that continues to resonate with audiences.
‘Every Brilliant Thing’ is the story of a seven year old child who narrates and it begins when he learns that his mother is in hospital after attempting suicide. So in order to make it better he starts a list of every brilliant thing that makes life worth living.
It begins with “ice-cream” and “water fights” to “anything multi-coloured” and the list continues to grow as the child grows into an adult and that is part of the narrative.
Written by Duncan Macmillan, it originally began as a short story which was then turned into a monologue. Then comedian Jonny Donahoe came on board, spent time on improvisation and it transformed into the ‘Every Brilliant Thing‘ we see today.
It needs audience participation and music to unfold the story and make the characters come alive.
Directed by Jeremy Herrin and Duncan Macmillan, the show is now having a West End premiere at Soho Place where it will be performed by different actors during its run until November 8. It started with Lenny Henry and he returns at the end of the month followed by Sue Perkins and Minnie Driver.
So, the challenge for the performer is how to engage the audience and make the story relevant to the audience. It’s been around the world and every single narrator performs it differently.
It appears they also tweak the story slightly to suit the actor’s race and gender.
Soho Place is a great venue and the show is performed with a stage in the centre so that everyone can see everything.
www.asianculturevulture.com saw a performance with Ambika Mod.
As you enter the auditorium you see Mod wandering around with index cards with text, talking to people and giving them a card so that at appropriate times when she yells out, “No 3” someone will reply “staying up past your bedtime”.
Basically, this is the audience participation part of the show and some people are given roles to perform as well, while others read out what is written on the cards according to the list number they received.
It’s quite clever and the thrill is in the unknown.
The story begins when Dad goes to pick up the seven year old, as his mum has attempted suicide and is in hospital. The child is perplexed as normally it is mum who collects the child from school.
Suddenly, the child experiences trauma in their body that something is not right, and also Dad opens the car door and invites child to sit in the passenger seat, when normally the child would sit in the back.
Mod grabs a person from the front row and asks them to play Dad, but when they start to improvise dialogue, she swaps the roles and orders them to be “the child” and to respond to any dialogue with the word, “Why?”
So, when Dad goes: “Put your seatbelt on” the child responds “Why?” and so forth.
On the night ACV saw it, the person, who said “Why”, in so many ways, was brilliant, so it is impossible to know if it’s professional actors or ordinary people sitting in the audience.
Another moving moment with audience participation is when the child goes to the school library and tries to process what has happened by talking to Mrs Patterson, the librarian, while trying to understand what death is through the passing of the child’s dog.
Without giving away the total plot, ‘Every Brilliant Thing’ follows the biography of the young child’s growth from school to university to falling in love with a person called Sam (who is picked from the audience). On the night I saw, it was an Indian man.
Mod walks over to the guy and asks him “what’s your name?” He says Mihir, she jumps in with “No, it’s Sam”.
She then describes how they met in the library over a shared love of books. Later this becomes a list item “when someone lends you a book”.
Mod enquiries if anyone in the audience has a book and is randomly given two titles – ‘You Are Here’ by David Nicholls and ‘Heavenly Bodies’ by Imani Erriu.
When she sees the title of Nicholls book, she makes a joke about “There is a really good series on Netflix” (referring to ‘One Day’ also by the author in which she plays one of the two central characters from the novel), and this draws much laughter from the crowd.
Mod is a consummate performer, striding around confidently, galvanising audience members into participating, so breaking ‘the fourth wall’ and then jumping back into her character, if they overstep or adlib.
The use of music is also wonderfully integrated as part of the story. From how the child narrator responds to dad’s moods according to what type of jazz music is coming from his study to the piano playing.
As this show is performed by different actors over the run at Soho Place who are of different genders and ethnicity there is a slight acknowledgement of this fact when the narrator talks about taking Sam home to meet the parents.
It terms of the story itself, ‘Every Brilliant Thing’ is termed as a funny play about depression it tends to lean into the humour of the situation instead of the more compassionate aspects.
It ultimately doesn’t present any certainty for the narrator who seems to live on tenterhooks and continues with the list until it reaches one million as a way of coping.
Mod’s performance is engaging and enjoyable in this show. She is in total control of her character and knows how to get the crowd to respond to her.
ACV rating: **** (out of five)
Top Picture: – Mod in ‘Every Brilliant’ Thing – ©SohoPlace/DannyKaan
Listing
‘Every Brilliant Thing’ by Duncan Macmillan, Soho Place, Charing Cross Road, London W1D 3BG
85 minutes (no interval)
https://sohoplace.org/shows/every-brilliant-thing/ (you can check the performance schedule) The performances by Ambika Mod are on September 17, 18,19, 24, 25, 26
Full schedule remaining only…
Lenny Henry: September 29-October 8
Jonny Donahoe: October 9 – 11
Sue Perkins: September 4 – 27
Minnie Driver: October 13 –November 8
Recommendation is 12+ as show deals with themes of suicide and depression.
