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Every Brilliant Thing is a novel, energetic and interactive solo show running at Writers Theatre through early January. Playwright Duncan Macmillian (with performer Jonny Donahoe) debuted this 70-minute dramedy exploring thoughts of fight, flight and freeze at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe a decade ago. The script then sprouted 400+ productions in over 63 countries, utilizing actors from all genders, shapes and experiences.
This production, directed by Kimberly Senior, features the fabulously droll Jessie Fisher as the narrator, recounting a story of social contagion and her childhood trauma: where it came from, how it grew and how she came to understand it. Patrolling around the circular, comfortable well-lit living room/backyard set of couches and tables (designed by Izumi Inaba, who also curated Fisher’s simple jeans, blouse and boots), the storyteller recounts creating a list of good things when she was a wee child grappling with a sick mother. The list had a few rules: no repetition, generally wonderful and few materialistic items.
Over the subsequent years, Fisher’s female grows her gratitude journal to embrace some joys of adulthood. Sometimes she abandons the quirky chronicling of life’s little pleasures, but she always manages to rediscover her listicle’s light when her worldview grows dark. The sentiment is bittersweet, lovely and accessible in Fisher’s capable hands.
Fisher’s character plays her dad’s jazz record collection and the piano, including snippets of “That’s Life,” “My Way” and “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go.” She casts audience members in her journey (and it’s not cringey at all), some playing pivotal parts in her upbringing like her dad, a school shrink with a sock puppet, a veterinarian who helps her with her childhood mutt Sherlock Bones, and her first real love relationship.
Some civvies read entries from the growing list of loves, like “piglets,” “the word plinth,” “Nina Simone’s voice,” “bubble wrap,” “really good oranges,” “hairdressers who listen to what you want,” and “the even-numbered Star Trek films.”
All audience actors, carefully shepherded by Fisher, were simply delightful and poignant. Fisher is present and deeply connected with the script, but, due to the high level of audience interactions, stays light on her feet to improvise and ground those ephemeral relationships. It’s a striking new theatrical form worthy of further exploration, akin to the equally riveting and fascinating solo outing What the Constitution Means to Me. Every Brilliant Thing also brought to mind Alison Bechdel’s book Fun Home (although there is a play version too) of another complicated comedic-cum-dramatic coming-of-age tale. Brilliant’s list eventually tops a million entries, and this production earns equally joyful praises.
Every Brilliant Thing runs through January 5, 2025, at Writers Theatre, 325 Tudor Court in Glencoe. Running time is 80 minutes. All tickets are $70 for general admission. The next production is another solo show, Frida…A Self Portrait, running January 23-February 23, 2025.
For more information on this and other productions, see theatreinchicago.com.
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