When Mum’s in the hospital and Dad says she finds it hard to be happy, there’s not much a seven year old can do…

1. Ice cream, 2. Water fights, 3. Staying up past your bedtime and being allowed to watch TV.

These are the first three items on a list of every brilliant thing in the world worth living for. As the child grows up, so does the list. It takes on a life of its own, a Facebook group is started, other people start adding to it, writing in the margins, making amendments, providing footnotes. The purpose of the list is forgotten and the mother’s depression doesn’t go away. Eventually, as a grown-up, they reach their self-imposed target of one million entries.  They call the list ‘Every Brilliant Thing’.

Based on true and untrue stories, Every Brilliant Thing is a life-affirming story of how to achieve hope through focusing on the smallest miracles of life.

Reviews of the Play

"Reasons to be cheerful-[a] moving paean to what makes life worth living" Claire Brennan, The Guardian

"A magical, uplifting show. It is hard to imagine anyone not falling for its gentle inclusivity and charm." Sara Keating, The Irish Times

EDI Assessment

In line with our EDI policy, we undertake an EDI impact assessment of all our artistic programming. This play has no central diversity message. It can be cast completely neutrally on gender and  race/ethnicity. For the story narrative, the performer must be able to play older than mid-30s.