Every Brilliant Thing

Description

You're six years old. Mum's in hospital. Dad says she's 'done something stupid'. She finds it hard to be happy. So you start to make a list of everything that's brilliant about the world. Everything that's worth living for. 1. Ice Cream 2. Kung Fu Movies 3. Burning Things 4. Laughing so hard you shoot milk out your nose 5. Construction cranes 6. Me You leave it on her pillow. You know she's read it because she's corrected your spelling. Soon, the list will take on a life of its own. A new play about depression and the lengths we will go to for those we love.

Duncan Macmillan is an award-winning writer and director. Plays include: Lungs (Paines Plough/Sheffield Crucible and Studio Theatre Washington D.C.), Platform (Old Vic Tunnels), Monster (Royal Exchange/Manchester International Festival), The Most Humane Way to Kill A Lobster (Theatre 503), I Wish To Apologise For My Part In The Apocalypse , So Say All of Us and Family Tree (all BBC Radio 4). Formerly Writer-in-Residence at Paines Plough and the Royal Exchange, he has completed attachments at the National Theatre and the Royal Court/BBC, is a member of the Old Vic New Voices Company and a fellow of the TS Eliot UK/US Exchange. He is the winner of two Bruntwood Playwriting Awards, the Old Vic Big Ambition Award, a Pearson Residency Award, 'The 50' Bursary, and has been nominated in the Best New Play category of the TMA and MEN Awards.

Filled to the brim with joy... beautiful, heart wrenching and very funny * Time Out London * Extraordinary piece of inclusive, participative theatre * The Stage * Deeply personal. I defy anyone not to laugh and cry * WhatsOnStage * Genuinely wonderful and life affirming. It is impossible not to love * A Younger Theatre * It's the funniest play you're ever likely to see about depression, and also the most moving * British Theatre Guide * Both devastatingly sad and incredibly uplifting * BroadwayBaby * There are lines that flash out at you in their perception... Every Brilliant Thing deserves a place as a show that will raise a smile through any gloom. A lovely warm glow of a work * Thepublicreviews.com * Heart-wrenching, hilarious... possibly one of the funniest plays you'll ever see, full stop * The Guardian * Funny, clever, and surprisingly uplifting * The Telegraph * Dual interest in joy and sorrow... a perfect balance * The Independent * Absurdly cherishable...fantastically likeable * The Sunday Times * A piece that demonstrates why life is worth living... you'll leave feeling elated * The Scotsman * Immensely likeable...with great sensitivity behind the abundant laughs * Evening Standard *