Review: EVERY BRILLIANT THING, Starring Sue Perkins, @sohoplace

Content Warning: References to suicide

There are few theatrical experiences like Every Brilliant Thing, written by Duncan MacMillan with Jonny Donahoe. It was first performed at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2014 and was filmed in 2016, which is where I first encountered it.

It is not a linear play, and although it was originally conceived to be about the experiences of a man looking back to when he was a seven-year-old boy, it can be played by any gender. Fourth in a roster of five performers taking on the role at @sohoplace, Sue Perkins is the Narrator (performer/improviser) in this week's shows.

When you are seven you have no concept of finality. The moment Perkins's character tells us about her dog, 'Ronnie Barker' being put to sleep at the vet's, "a loved one becoming an object", hits hard. Her mother then "does something stupid" and tries to take her own life.

The daughter starts making a list of all the brilliant things in the world, starting with 'ice cream'. The beauty of Every Brilliant Thing is in the level of audience participation, with some audience members given cards to read out, and others roped in to play a part, either on stage or from the front row.

As befits a play that grew organically in collaboration with writer (Macmillan) and original performers (Donahoe, who returned to @sohoplace a couple of weeks ago to play the Narrator again), it is hard to tell what is on the page and what is reactive to what is happening in the space as the show unfolds.

Macmillan directs with Jeremy Herrin, but a lot of this show, or what is really a theatrical 'experience' is about flying by the seat of your pants as a performer, and listening to what each 'brilliant thing' means to you as an audience member.

Whether you have been affected directly by suicide or not, everyone has grown up from a child to an adult, most of us have been in love (the 10,000th 'thing' is for us all to say together, "waking up with someone you love"), many have been parents being asked 'why', and some will have just found happiness in sunshine, sharing chips, listening to a vinyl record, or seeing a hedgehog.

Small things and simple things. In this text, and in the expert hands of Sue Perkins, we come together as a community in one space, for 85 short minutes.If you are dead against getting involved, no one will force you. but you might find it fun. Perkins is a lively and engaging performer, and her reactions to every item on the list will make your heart swell, while she can expertly navigate the more serious passages too.

It is a very amusing play, but also now and then as it plucks as a memory you may have it is profound, moving, and powerful, too.

I'd seen the play before, nearly ten years ago, with Jonny Donahoe, and it has stayed with me for a long time. I'm glad he came back to play the part, and I'm glad that @sohoplace also extended the invitation to four other artists, living up to Every Brilliant Thing's promise to be accessible to every gender, age and ethnicity.

This will never be the same show, so it could be watched 10 times, 100 times, a million and still reach deep into the heart of you. It won't be for everyone. It may come across as over-sentimental or simplistic to some. I'm not one of those people.

Every Brilliant Thing is at @sohoplace until 8 November 2025. Sue Perkins performs, with Ambika Mod, Lenny Henry, Minnie Driver and Jonny Donahoe.

Buy Tickets to Every Brilliant Thing