Every Brilliant Thing

Written by Duncan Macmillan
Directed by Joel Horwood

You’re seven years old. Mum’s in hospital. Dad says she’s ‘done something stupid’. She finds it hard to be happy. You start to make her a list of every brilliant thing in the world.

1. Ice cream.
2. Water fights.
3. Staying up past your bedtime and being allowed to watch TV.
4. The colour yellow.

Decades pass, the list grows, and what started as a naïve way of getting through the day eventually becomes a profound truth – that the sublime can be found in the everyday.

26. Peeing in the sea and nobody knows.
996. Really good oranges.
2390. People who can’t sing but either don’t know or don’t care.

Every Brilliant Thing is a transcendent and tender play for a solo performer, who tells their story with the help of people in the audience (in a totally non-scary way!). It is a pure celebration of life, that reminds us to pay attention to life’s smallest joys – and to each other.

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Reviews - Every Brilliant Thing

Jarred West is outstanding as the Narrator. Whether looking back to his time as a seven year old, to his teenage years and then on to his adult life, he is completely convincing. Joel Horwood’s direction is tight, busy and imaginative, giving West the opportunity to bring depth, both verbally and non-verbally, to his role […]

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Details

When: 20 August – 25 August 2024
Where: ACT Hub at Causeway Hall

Cast

Jarrad West

What's on after this?

August: Osage County (5 September)