By Nancy Stetson
A friend once shared her nightly ritual with me.
Before she goes to sleep, she names three things that happened that day she’s grateful for.
Sometimes it’s easy, she said, and sometimes she really has to stretch.
Every Brilliant Thing (at Gulfshore Playhouse in Naples through Dec. 15) is kinda like that, but on steroids.
In this moving and often funny one-man show, the Storyteller (Jeffrey Binder) comes up with a list of “every brilliant thing” that makes life worth living.
We follow this unnamed character through his life, from childhood to adulthood, as he keeps adding to his list.
We first meet him when he’s seven years old. His mother has just attempted to kill herself, and the boy, in his innocence, believes if he makes a list of all the terrific things in life, it will cure his mother’s depression and encourage her to embrace life.
The items on his list, read out loud by various members of the audience, start with childlike pleasures: ice cream, Kung-Fu movies, water fights, the color yellow, people falling over, things with stripes, staying up past bedtime and being allowed to watch TV.
As he matures, the list reflects new-found pleasures. (The smell of old books. Nina Simone’s voice. Marlon Brando.) He keeps adding to the list. And while it’s impossible to list every single thing that makes life worth living, he gives himself the goal of naming one million brilliant things.
It’s the little things that give meaning to our lives and add up. And we recognize that those “little things” are actually big things, such as life-long friends, falling in love, seeing a play or reading a book that moves you.
Written by Duncan Macmillan with comedian Jonny Donahoe, this one-man play takes you on an emotional roller-coaster ride. (Roller coaster rides are also an item on the list.) It’s the full range: sadness, joy, hurt, uncertainty, grief, love.
Despite the subject matter, the play isn’t gloomy or morbid. While facing the realities of depression and suicide, it fully embraces life. In these dark days of disappointment and discouragement, it’s essential to have some levity, to experience moments of joy, and Every Brilliant Thing provides that.
Binder is believable and authentic, no matter what age he plays: a young, vulnerable seven-year-old; a slouchy, moody teen; an inquisitive college student; a young married man dealing with the world. His physicality is perfect, reflecting each age realistically.
It’s a tough show to direct – and perform — as it includes moments of audience participation. Random audience members are chosen each night to portray the Storyteller’s father, therapist, and other characters, each making unscripted comments.
Risa Brainin’s direction creates a production that feels extemporaneous and off-the-cuff. Binder makes it all seem easy, talking to us as if we’re all friends.
Performing it in the Baker Theatre’s intimate 125-seat Struthers Studio helps too, as does Michael Klaers’ lighting. Audience members can see each other, and the lighting creates the feeling that the audience is a community.
The set (Ann Sheffield) is minimalist: a couple of orange chairs on wheels, a couple of boxes of vinyl records. And, a nice symbolic touch: the board game Life with a desk lamp on top of it. (Also symbolic: the inlaid wooden floor with a star in the middle, radiating beams of light.) Gaurav Mishra’s sound design helps us see things that aren’t physically there, such as car doors.
The 90-minute play is performed in the round, and Binder makes sure to play to all sides of the theater. Under Brainin’s direction, it’s much more kinetic and lively than you’d expect a one-man show to be. And, it’s the first offering in the state-of-the-art Struthers Studio in Gulfshore Playhouse’s newly built Baker Theater and Education Building.
Every Brilliant Thing celebrates the arts, championing books, the pleasure of reading, the joy of sharing books with a friend, listening to music and creating it. It pays tribute to Ray Charles and the way he howls the word “you” in “Drown in My Own Tears” and praises the warm, rich sound of music on vinyl records.
This play will have you noticing and naming the “brilliant things” in your own life.
And surely, you will add to your list: the skillful acting of Jeffrey Binder, Gulfshore Playhouse’s new home, and the heart-warming play Every Brilliant Thing.
Gulfshore Playhouse presents Every Brilliant Thing at The Struthers Studio at the Baker Theatre and Education Center, 100 Goodlette-Frank Road, Naples (239) 261-7529 or www.gulfshoreplayhouse.org Tickets: $84 – $39
