Delaware Theatre Company presents Duncan Macmillan’s Every Brilliant Thing

After her suicide attempt, the mother of a six-year-old boy is hospitalized with clinical depression. Attempting to buoy her and to make sense of the frightening depth of that experience, her son— Charlie DelMarcelle, simply called Narrator—tells how he began a list of everything in the world he can think of that might make her happier. He leaves that list around the house, and it’s clear she’s reading it because she corrects his spelling.

This list-making project takes on greater scope as the play progresses, becoming something that lasts a lifetime. Every Brilliant Thing and DelMarcelle take the audience on a moving journey into the abyss of depression and the lengths people will go, or resist going, to heal themselves and succor those they love. And surprisingly, it’s a gentle comedy.

Engaging and authentic

For this intimate play, a smaller-than-usual DTC audience (about 175 by my count) is seated onstage, surrounding the actor and connected visually with one another. That connection is a critical component of the success and impact of this lovely show. DelMarcelle walks among the arriving audience, talking to them as he requests that they participate. He gives out numbered cards, each with an item from the Narrator’s list, asking them to read what’s on the card when he calls out the number. This pre-show engagement bonds the actor with the audience and the audience members with one another, something that ensures the strength of this affecting tale.

Matt Silva, DTC’s artistic director, has crafted the production with unobtrusive staging and loving care. It takes a director with assurance and grace to craft a show like this that looks so effortless. And it also takes a special kind of actor, like DelMarcelle: direct, open, unafraid, and truly empathetic. As audience members come forward to help tell the tale (no plants, all extemporaneous), the actor works with them gently and skillfully, borrowing a pen from one, a jacket from another, as he turns them into the characters in the Narrator’s life.

DelMarcelle was last seen on the DTC stage in Brighton Beach Memoirs, another memory play with contemporary resonance, and as a teacher, he is accustomed to being himself in front of a group, something crucial to the success of this play. It requires a delicate balance; any “actorly” behavior would certainly weaken this production.

Theater that connects us

Filled with both true and fictional components, Duncan Macmillan’s Every Brilliant Thing was first produced in Scotland in 2013 at the Ludlow Fringe Festival. It originally starred British stand-up comic Jonny Donahoe, also a performer adept at handling the show’s critical component of audience interaction. The play was made into a 2016 HBO movie, and now Every Brilliant Thing is a theater piece widely produced throughout the US and worldwide.

In his pre-show welcome, director Silva gave a thoughtful content note, saying that this play deals with suicide. He pointed out the exit and assured viewers that anyone who needed to leave and take a break would be welcomed back when they were ready. This is the second show in the theater company’s “partnership season,” joined here by the Mental Health Association in Delaware. The DTC playbill states that the company “recognizes the value of theatre in connecting us to one another and the vital role that connection has in promoting mental wellness.”

That is absolutely true, of course. But that said and agreed upon, you can be sure that Every Brilliant Thing is also a charming and very well-crafted play. As he navigates this death-and-life story, DelMarcelle embraces the audience. He includes them on the Narrator’s journey, creating a thoughtful, affirming, and immersive evening, something every audience member hopes for when they walk through those theater doors.