Review: EVERY BRILLIANT THING at Gulfshore Playhouse

EVERY BRILLIANT THING at Gulfshore Playhouse is an inspiring, intelligent, emotional show. 

The Storyteller, played by Jeffrey Binder, takes you through his life growing up with a mother who was depressed and suicidal. He decides to write a list of everything that is brilliant and worth living for to try and help his mother. It's a really heavy topic, but this show finds a way to present humor, hope, and brilliance throughout it. Jeffrey Binder does an excellent job carrying this show. He portrays all of the emotion perfectly, and his acting is, in a word, brilliant.

This is a one-man show, but the actor uses audience members to play other characters throughout the show (in fact, I ended up playing one of them myself). There is a lot of audience interaction; beyond some audience members playing characters, each person receives at least 1 or 2 pieces of paper with some of the "brilliant things" on them. As the play progresses, the Storyteller calls out numbers and the audience member who has that particular brilliant thing reads it aloud - for example, "Ice Cream" is #1 on the list, and one of the numbers I had was #994, "Hairdressers who listen to what you want." It's a really effective way to get the audience involved and invested in the show, and many of the brilliant things audience members have to read are quite humorous. 

This production was directed by Risa Brainin, alongside Scenic/Costume Designer Ann Sheffield, Lighting Designer Michael Klaers, and Sound Designer Gaurav Mishra. I loved the way Gulfshore Playhouse's new Struthers Studio was used for this show. The scenic design was very effective. The use of rolling chairs throughout was also a nice touch, and a great way to add some movement into the show. I thought each technical aspect was done very well. 

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