Duncan Macmillan Archives - North West End UK

Every Brilliant Thing (with Sue Perkins) – Sohoplace

11Sep

By Alan Stuart MalinNo Comments

London

Every Brilliant Thing (with Sue Perkins) – Sohoplace

‘Every Brilliant Thing’ is a play that makes you feel alive in the deepest sense. Staged in the round at the stunning @sohoplace Theatre, it invites the audience to sit close enough to feel part of the story, the circular setting removing any distance between performer and spectator, turning the theatre into a shared living room where every glance and every laugh travels instantly across the space. This intimacy is more than a design choice, it allows the production to draw everyone into its gentle exploration of joy, grief, and the tiny moments that give life meaning. From the very first words, you sense that what unfolds will not be a typical night at the theatre but a collective experience of listening, feeling, and remembering together. With Sue Perkins at the centre, the evening be...

23Aug

By Paul AckroydNo Comments

London

Every Brilliant Thing – Soho Place

Every Brilliant Thing was created by Duncan Macmillan and Johnny Donahoe and was first performed at the Edinburgh fringe in 2014 and has since been performed by many artists in 80 countries around the world. This is the first time that it has had a performance in London’s West End. It still has the feel of a fringe performance with a solo actor performing with no set dressing and largely without props and involving the audience in the performance. It works well in the intimate theatre in the round auditorium at Sohoplace. Another feature of this production is that it is to be performed by five different actors on different nights during its run. At Press Night it was the turn of Johnny Donahoe, who has performed it many times and his familiarity with the material...

9Aug

By Ralph JeffreysNo Comments

London

Every Brilliant Thing – @sohoplace

Every Brilliant Thing is a sweet, but ultimately flawed, play about depression, suicide and trying to get on with life. Stemming originally from a monologue written by Duncan Macmillan and developed with co-author Jonny Donahoe, the play is about a child dealing with their mother’s suicidal depression by creating a list of all the brilliant things that make life worth living. As the character grows older, the list takes on new meanings as they deal with their own depression. The show is at its best when its performer, Lenny Henry, is left to do crowd work, finding lots of humour in the script and playing the room brilliantly. The text frequently calls for audience members to play key characters in our protagonist’s life: his dad, the vet who put his dog down, his first love, Sam. Hen...

Every Brilliant Thing – Roundabout @ Summerhall

9Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Every Brilliant Thing – Roundabout @ Summerhall

Every Brilliant Thing, by Duncan MacMillan and Jonny Donahue is back and goes straight in at number one on my list of brilliant things. And with Donahue himself performing it, this is better than ice cream. Like a prodigal son returning from distant shores, the womb-like space that is The Roundhouse, at Summerhall, welcomes back, Every Brilliant Thing, a play that has globe trotted after it’s first showing here in 2014. And the public cannot get enough of it, it is completely sold out, with two additional dates already added (sold out) but surely more to follow. (Check the Fringe web site, every five minutes!) It’s one of those shows that it’s best to know nothing about before you see it. I am therefore going for the mysterious, enigmatic vibe on this one. Lets just say it is the...

People Places & Things – Trafalgar Theatre

20May

By Riana HowarthNo Comments

London

People Places & Things – Trafalgar Theatre

I’d heard the premise before going to see this. I knew it was about an actress with an addiction problem going to rehab, to get the paper that lets her get back to work. Yet it was much more than this - an intensive journey, from the excruciating detox to all the mental anguish, conceptualisation, denial, and the hopeful, desperate, desire to get better. It was a truly cathartic watch. Denise Gough’s characterisation was phenomenal, we saw all the nooks and crannies of this complex woman. Her visceral performance brought Emma’s story to life, and made the meta moments, the reminders that we are watching actors, even more trippy because her character was so embodied and real. There was a moment in the first scene where the back of the stage is ripped away, and throughout the drama, this ...

28Jun

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

London

Lungs – The Old Vic: In Camera

On a deserted Old Vic stage Claire Foy and Matt Smith give us a fly on the wall insight into their character’s turbulent relationship. Yes, I did say they are standing on a stage, a sight that warms the cockles as the theatre going public have been starved of their beloved live theatre, The Old Vic have given us a chance to submerge ourselves in this tsunami of emotional drama. Due to social distancing requirements, the set is minimalistic and has been painted a dark grey and the designer Rob Howell appears to have co-ordinated the couple’s wardrobe to blend in. The show is directed by Matthew Warchus and is broadcast via good old Zoom which splits the two so that they can be brought together on screen without being too close to each other on stage. This works well with this production ...