Insights A Study Guide to the Utah Shakespearean Festival

Every Brilliant Thing The articles in this study guide are not meant to mirror or interpret any productions at the Utah Shakespeare Festival. They are meant, instead, to be an educational jumping-off point to understanding and enjoying the plays (in any pro- duction at any theatre) a bit more thoroughly. Therefore the stories of the plays and the interpretative articles (and even characters, at times) may differ dramatically from what is ultimately produced on the Festival’s stages. The Study Guide is published by the Utah Shakespeare Festival, 351 West Center Street; Cedar City, UT 84720. Bruce C. Lee, publications manager and editor; Clare Campbell, graphic artist. Copyright © 2019, Utah Shakespeare Festival. Please feel free to download and print The Study Guide, as long as you do not remove any identifying mark of the Utah Shakespeare Festival.

For more information about Festival education programs: Utah Shakespeare Festival 351 West Center Street Cedar City, Utah 84720 435-586-7880 www.bard.org.

Cover Art for Every Brilliant Thing by Cully Long. Every Brilliant Thing Contents

Information on the Play Synopsis 4 Characters 5 About the Playwrights 6

Scholarly Articles on the Play A Life Examined 8

Utah Shakespearean Festival 3 351 West Center Street • Cedar City, Utah 84720 • 435-586-7880 Synopsis: Every Brilliant Thing The Storyteller begins by telling a story of when, at seven-years old, and was taken to see his mother in the hospital after her first attempt to take her own life. Afterwards, The Storyteller begins a list. A list of everything brilliant about the world. Everything worth living for. The story explores depression and hope, uncertainty and change, confusion and joy, heartbreak and anger, relationships and solitude, risk and resistance, guilt and forgiveness. Throughout, The Storyteller interacts with audience members to tell about life with his or her mother’s depression as a backdrop, including the effects it has his or her life and relationships.

4 Utah Shakespearean Festival 351 West Center Street • Cedar City, Utah 84720 • 435-586-7880 Characters: Every Brilliant Thing Storyteller: The Storyteller is the only actual role in the play and can be played by a woman or man of any age or ethnicity.

Played by various audience members: Vet Dad Audience Sock Lecturer Sam Mrs. Patterson

Utah Shakespearean Festival 5 351 West Center Street • Cedar City, Utah 84720 • 435-586-7880 About the Playwrights: Jonny Donahoe and Duncan Macmillan By Vanessa Hunt Playwrights Duncan Macmillan and Jonny Donahoe teamed up to create the refreshing play Every Brilliant Thing, a one-man show which follows the heavy theme of a son trying to support his mother through her depression, but does it in a heart-warming, many times humorous narrative. The show was so well received that it led to a television adaptation on HBO. As they wrote together, the two men wanted to ensure their story was entirely honest and straightforward. Duncan Macmillan is an English playwright and director. He is known for multiple plays he has written, co-written, or adapted, including Lungs; People, Places, and Things; Every Brilliant Thing; and 1984. His major plays usually deal with contemporary socio-political issues, ranging from addic- tion and recovery to depression and suicide. He grew up watching a lot of classic plays, but he didn’t decide to start writing his own plays until he read Far Away by Caryl Churchill. Macmillan counts many playwrights as having influenced him, including Churchill, Wallace Shawn, Robert Holman, Martin Crimp, Arthur Miller, Samuel Beckett, Bertolt Brecht, Anton Chekhov, William Shakespeare, Katie Mitchell, and Pina Bausch. He has also been influenced by writers he has established friend- ships with (https://www.standard.co.uk/ go/ london/ theatre/ play-talk-duncan-macmillan-on- writing-impossible-adaptations-and-theatre-as-a-workout-for-the-a3518401.html). Macmillan’s success began with the Bruntwood Playwriting Competition at Manchester’s Royal Exchange Theatre. He won two awards for a play called Monster. In addition, the play was nominat- ed for a TMA Best New Play Award and a Manchester Evening New Best New Play Award. Now his plays have been performed around the world, from England and the United States to South Africa and South Korea. Other notable awards and nominations for Macmillan include a nomination for Best New Play at the Olivier Awards for People, Places and Things and a UK Theatre Best Director award for 1984 (https://en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/ Duncan_Macmillan_(playwright)). At the age of thirty three, Macmillan co-wrote an adaptation with Robert Icke of George Orwell’s 1984. It first played in England and has since moved to the U.S. This was not his only col- laboration, though. He has frequently collaborated with British director Katie Mitchell. These col- laborations have included the play 2071 at the Royal Court Theatre, plays at Theatertreffen and Festival D’Avignon, and the film Unseen. He also notably collaborated to co-write Every Brilliant Thing with Johnny Donahoe. While he has been called the playwright of his generation, Macmillan says that he is “forever going to be a student of the craft of play construction and how and where you place the cinematic moment of a story.” He may have written many critically acclaimed plays, but what makes him truly great is the fact that he continues to learn and find ways to make his craft even better. Even though he is a brilliant writer, Macmillan’s first love is music. He was previously a DJ and is an avid music collector. In speaking about his love of music and his love of writing, he says that you should do what you love most as a hobby and what you love second as your job (https://www.jigsaw-online. com/ blog/ uncategorized/ in-conversation-with-playwright-duncan-macmillan.html). Jonny Donahoe was born in 1983 in Dublin, Ireland. While he is well known for many of his creative projects, he is best known for being the frontman for the comedy band Jonny and the Baptists. Further showing his comedy chops, Donahoe frequently performs as a stand-up comedian. His writing career expands further than just his collaboration with Macmillan for Every Brilliant Thing. In addition, he wrote “30 Christmases, which premiered at The Old Fire Station in Oxford and then moved to the New Diorama Theatre in London, and he has an upcoming series called

6 Utah Shakespearean Festival 351 West Center Street • Cedar City, Utah 84720 • 435-586-7880 Josie and Johnny Are Having a Baby (With You),” which will air on the American Podcast Network (http://www.jonnydonahoe.co.uk/). This is a collaboration between Donahoe and his partner, Josie, as they await the arrival of their first child. Donahoe is known for blurring the line between art and real life. 30 Christmases showcases Donahoe’s musical skills as it’s a play with songs about alternative Christmases. Like Every Brilliant Thing, this show does not shy away from traumatic experiences. When he writes, he draws from personal experiences. When speaking about his collaboration of Every Brilliant Thing with Macmillan and approaching the theme of mental health, Donahoe said, “I do struggle in so far as I’m not a trained professional when it comes to mental health issues. Duncan and I undertook an enormous amount of research for the play and it draws on a number of true sto- ries from both of our lives” (https://www.thestage.co.uk/ features/ interviews/ 2016/ jonny-dona- hoe-having-never-liked-christmas-i-wanted-to-write-a-christmas-show/). Donahoe has performed the one-man show over 300 times. He approaches his performances by always trying to elicit laugh- ter. In regard to the issue of depression that he is presenting, he has said, “The only way to deal with it is to be open and up front and talk about it and share and not just share but hopefully share humor” (https://www.charlestoncitypaper.com/ charleston/ every-brilliant-thing-star-jonny-dona- hoe-talks-suicide-depression-and-finding-the-humor-in-it-all/ Content?oid=5965923). Donahoe’s comedic approach to heavy topics is a unique way in which he takes what he is good at and utilizes it to reach an audience while talking about something that may be uncomfortable for many. Donahoe has received a couple of award nominations for his performances. In 2014/2015, he was nominated for the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Solo Performance and the Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Solo show for Every Brilliant Thing. This show had a very successful run off- Broadway in New York City. Macmillan and Donahoe’s collaboration for Every Brilliant Thing is unique. Macmillan first wrote the play as a short story, which then turned into a monologue. However, it became what audi- ences see today once Donahoe came on board and added his skill of working with audiences. The entire form of the play then changed. These two artists have created something wonderful together that brings a sad show to an audience, but it also comes with laughter and joy, a theme that seems to pepper the lives of Macmillan and Donahoe as they work to remove the stigma of talking about mental health and one’s feelings. (https://www.standard.co.uk/ go/ london/ theatre/ every-bril- liant-thing-jonny-donahoe-and-duncan-macmillan-on-the-show-that-charmed-the-world-a3656001. html).

Utah Shakespearean Festival 7 351 West Center Street • Cedar City, Utah 84720 • 435-586-7880 Every Brilliant Thing: A Life Examined By Lawrence Henley Every now and then a new play will arrive on the scene with a refreshing, innovative, and entirely different approach to dramatic performance. With Every Brilliant Thing, British playwright Duncan Macmillan has given us just such a work, introducing a new way to present insightful, cutting-edge single actor theatre in a minimalist format. In doing so he also manages to create an ensemble cast, using techniques that bring audience immersion up to a new level. Of immense value is the show’s ability to pinpoint the virtues of appreciating the best of everything in our world. Macmillan cites this as a key tool in fighting depression, a factor of critical importance when life looks the least promising. If audience interactivity is to be the future of entertainment in mainstream mediums, it will need to find a bigger place at the table in the world of theatre. Today’s popular culture and tech lifestyles are becoming engrossed with video gaming, virtual reality, intelligent phones, virtual home/person- al assistants, and streaming media platforms. As a consequence, it has become increasingly difficult for older, more traditional mediums such as books, music recordings, and live theatre to compete with such spellbinding devices without new approaches and “hooks.” Dedicated to Macmillan’s father, Every Brilliant Thing is a one-act play employing multiple roles yet with only a single actor’s name listed in the playbill. Indeed, the role of the The Storyteller is intentionally crafted to play only one character. It can be performed by a person of any gender, race, or demographic. The Storyteller is never given a name, with the inference being that his or her expe- riences described in the play could be similar to those of anyone. Craftily, Macmillan has opted to create a larger cast by having members of the viewing audience, selected by The Storyteller, perform additional roles throughout the performance. These simple roles include a veterinarian, a former spouse, a retired school counselor (Mrs. Patterson), a col- lege lecturer, and an old pup named Sherlock Bones (a border collie for the dog aficionados). The Storyteller also briefly channels “Dad,” and makes clever use of such ordinary items as a shoe, a coat, and a sock as character puppets to play against. Handily, each of these items can be borrowed from mostly surprised members of the audience. Every Brilliant Thing was written with a specific performer in mind for the role of The Storyteller, namely Johnny Donahoe, Macmillan’s co-author and friend and a noted British standup comedian. Donahoe inaugurated the role in 2013, also performing it in the United States premiere in 2014. In 2016, it was filmed for showing as a made-for-television movie. As the play begins, The Storyteller is a six-year-old whose first experience with loss involves a pet. This proves to be the first of several such experiences. Grimly, The Storyteller’s dad is faced with a most unenviable responsibility: he must inform his child that their deeply depressed wife and mother is in the hospital, the result of the first of several attempts at taking her own life. Unable to carry out the task with much emotion, the father’s awkward disclosure takes place in the family car during the ride to the hospital. While the mother convalesces, the youthful Storyteller sits at home, pondering ways to convince her that life is still worth living. As a hopeful solution, the child turns scribe and begins to pen what will become a lengthy, enumerated list of every positive and great thing that makes life worth living, no matter how simple any single item on the list might seem at face value: 1. Ice Cream, 2. Water fights, 3. Staying up past your bedtime and being allowed to watch TV. This handwritten list pours on to the pages with no par- ticular categorization, grouping, or headings. The Storyteller creates it, in part, as a personal coping mechanism. Equally significant, the list is intended to serve as a persuasion device to convince both parents to hang on, stay together, and continue life as a family.

8 Utah Shakespearean Festival 351 West Center Street • Cedar City, Utah 84720 • 435-586-7880 The list of brilliant things grows. Appending it becomes second nature and a lifelong pastime that usually resurfaces when things begin to look the darkest. As The Storyteller progresses from adolescence through high school, the list expands to a remarkable length, with new entries reflective of each stage of growing up. Eventually regressing, the mother consumes excessive amounts of pills but again fails to end her life. This time around the teenage Storyteller reacts angrily, with more than a tinge of sarcasm directed toward her. Despondent, the father retreats to his sanctuary, the study, where he tries to thwart reality by listening to his large phonograph record collection (with the door closed). The list periodically resurfaces as the play follows The Storyteller into later years. It’s a life replete with disappointment and heartache (as many lives are), but with each challenge the cathartic list of brilliant things aids in the healing process. Vintage jazz, jazz vocal, and R&B recordings from the 1930s to the 1970s play an integral part in setting the mood for this intimate performance. Macmillan draws on the catalogues of Cab Calloway, Ray Charles, John Coltrane, Ella Fitzgerald and the Ink Spots, Bill Evans, Ornette Coleman, Isaac Hayes, and Cannonball Adderly in setting the smoky, relaxed mood for Every Brilliant Thing. The titles all fit neatly with the text and often provide The Storyteller’s story with key metaphors: “Drown in My Own Tears,” “Into Each Life Some Rain Must Fall,” “My Melancholy Baby,” “You,” and “Some Things Last a Long Time.” Like the Dad, The Storyteller has grown up using music as a coping mechanism, spending endless hours listening to old recordings and reading the album sleeves as if each one was a part of the list. As the list records its one millionth brilliant thing at play’s end, it’s apparent that The Storyteller has relied heavily on this gargantuan, spectacular list as a critical support tool to help avert the same fate that consumed the mother and destroyed the spirit of the father. This play tackles the difficult twin subjects of depression and suicide, and Macmillan’s explanation about the message of Every Brilliant Thing in The Guardian offers this sage advice on battling depression: “You’re not alone, you’re not weird, you will get through it, and you’ve just got to hold on. That’s a very uncool, unfashionable thing for someone to say, but I really mean it.” To counterbalance the episodes of gloominess in this play, witty Macmillan has infused his script with abundant and memorable humor. Here’s one such zinger: “If you live a long life and get to the end of it without ever once having felt crushingly depressed, then you probably haven’t been paying attention.” And, while you probably won’t exit this play humming “Zip-a-Dee-Do- Dah,” by the same token you won’t leave the theatre terribly depressed. On the contrary, ultimately Every Brilliant Thing proves to be a highly interactive, uplifting, and positive experience. Go see it. Everyone should.

Utah Shakespearean Festival 9 351 West Center Street • Cedar City, Utah 84720 • 435-586-7880