Every Brilliant Thing
As you probably know, theatre and drama is a big deal for us here at Nutty’s. Pretty much all of us our professional actors and stage work very much informs and inspires what we do. From our character- led Adventure Parties to our Drama Workshop Parties and more, performance is a key aspect to our party entertainment and so is the spirit of the imagination, using minimal props and high energy to truly engage with children on a more visceral level, rather than gimmicks.
I (Danny), love going to the theatre and every once in a while I see something truly magical and life changing.
Last year, my family and I went to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and, amongst many plays, stand up comedy and more we saw Every Brilliant Thing. We also saw it in the West End starring Ambika Mod.
Both times we saw it was an unforgettable experience. Hardly any set, props plucked from the audience, one actor. It is one of the most extraordinary pieces of theatre I have ever seen.
Written by Duncan Macmillan (who I have had the pleasure of meeting a few times in the past) with extra material from its original star, Johnny Donohoe, it’s a story about a child who finds out their mother tried to take her own life as a result of deep depression and this, in turn, inspires the child (told as an adult) to write down ‘every brilliant thing’.
The actor at the start gives out pieces of paper to the audience with certain ones on and numbers and when they shout out the number, the audience shouts it out- ‘ice cream!’ example.
Every performance is clearly totally unique as certain parts are played by actual members of the audience and it gives the audience as a whole a totally shared experience. It’s moving, sad, shocking, inventive, original in its concept and also hilarious at times.
I think the reason I was so taken by the show is how much again it made me think of our parties! Storytelling in its most simplistic form is so powerful and can truly take anyone on a unique and special journey and that’s what we always try and do, for every party we do.
