The Edinburgh Festival Fringe is the biggest arts festival in the world, with over 3,700 shows. This year, 半岛体育 is on board our FringeShip for the festival and we鈥檙e taking you with us.
Follow along as we cover every single aspect of the Fringe, aka our real-life Brigadoon! As part of our Edinburgh Fringe coverage, 半岛体育 is seeing a whole lotta shows鈥攁nd we鈥檙e letting you know what we think of them. Consider these reviews a friendly, opinionated guide as you try to choose a show at the festival.
Every Brilliant Thing is a hilarious and joyful play鈥bout depression. And not in that chronically millennial fashion, where every symptom is ironically and cringely shared as something to celebrate.
In the work鈥攂ack at Fringe for a revival 10 years after it debuted here鈥攐ur nameless protagonist faces a distant father, a suicidal mother, and his own inexplicable deep sadness. And in a spark of childhood genius, he counteracts these obstacles by chronicling every brilliant thing in the world鈥攆irst to cheer up his depressed mother, and later for friends, lovers, and himself. Those things include items ranging from simple pleasures ("ice cream,鈥� 鈥渢he color yellow鈥� )to the far more specific and detailed ("old people who are kind and don鈥檛 smell unusual,鈥� 鈥渢he even numbered Star Trek films").
If this sounds like the premise of a saccharine novel one might pick up at an airport book shop, that鈥檚 not at all how it鈥檚 been executed here. The play is based on a short story by Duncan Macmillan, who worked on this dramatized edition with director George Perrin (Macmillan is at the helm for this revival) and comedian Jonny Donahoe.
Donahoe, who originally starred in the solo show and is back this time around too, was responsible for bringing a great deal of semi-improvisatory crowd work from his stand-up experience into the performance. Audience members are called on to become various characters in the story. Many get handed cards before the show begins, each with an item from the play鈥檚 list of brilliant things. When Donahoe calls your number, you read the brilliant thing aloud.
All of this creates a disarmingly cheery air. Donahoe can somehow make an audience laugh while telling a story of his dog being euthanized in his own arms鈥攁nd then jokily chastise the 鈥渧et鈥� (an audience member, of course) for laughing too much while putting a little boy鈥檚 dog down. The titular brilliant things鈥攁nything but general, anything but saccharine鈥攁re as liable to get side-splitting laughter as they are loud approval from audience members who co-sign. It鈥檚 a funny, almost euphoric experience watching this wonderful play, especially when it鈥檚 performed as winningly and as charmingly as Donahoe.
At the same time, Every Brilliant Thing is a play about depression and mental illness. Even with Donahoe鈥檚 hilarious charm, the character experiences some real trauma. Beyond the death of his childhood dog, we see him deal with the aftermath of several of his mother鈥檚 suicide attempts, the painful end of a once soulmate-level relationship, and鈥攚orst鈥攈is mother succumbing to her lifelong mental illness. The list transforms from being a way to cheer up a deeply, inexplicably sad loved one to an altered world view, a refusal to ignore the things that bring us joy鈥攏o matter how small or seemingly insignificant (in its final state, the list comes to number 1,000,000).
And that鈥檚 the true genius, the next-level emotional I.Q.-part of this work. A lesser, more facile play would be tempted to make this list of wonderful things the Hail Mary for the deep sadness we all feel time to time. Every Brilliant Thing goes to great lengths to make it clear that it鈥檚 simply not that easy. Depression isn鈥檛 the simple result of something bad happening to you, nor is suicide. 鈥淟ooking on the bright side鈥� will not save us. But that also doesn鈥檛 mean there isn鈥檛 good, immense good, in working to remember and recognize the things that don鈥檛 make us despair.
The combination of that deep and heavy message and the levity of much of the performance makes Every Brilliant Thing somehow both more devastating and more life-affirming at the same time鈥攚hich might just be the duality we have to walk to get through our darkest periods. Donahoe鈥檚 ability to walk this line鈥攈is dramatic work is as genuine and heartfelt as his comedy鈥攊s astonishing.
I鈥檓 far from the only person to realize this title鈥檚 merits. Since its original Fringe debut, the play has returned for several sold-out Fringe encores, along with playing London and, in 2014, Off-Broadway. To have Donahoe back鈥攏ow with a fetching new beard鈥攊s a real treat, and one not to be missed. I left with tears in my eyes, but also feeling better about this bad old world than I have in a hot minute. After all, there are some pretty brilliant things almost anywhere you look.
Every Brilliant Thing is playing Summerhall鈥檚 Roundabout through August 24. For tickets, click .
