Photos by Zach Mendez
Every Brilliant Thing is a one-person play about a list of items worth living for.
Well, that sentence is a lie. Two lies, actually. While it is a technically accurate description of the 75-minute, no-intermission piece written by Duncan MacMillan with Jonny Donahoe, it paints an absolutely inadequate picture of the reality of the experience itself.
First, there is more than one person who takes the stage during any performance. And second, while the list is an engaging framing device, it is not what ultimately delivers the play’s throughline: the sense that existence is truly fragile, with situations worth struggling through to get to the joy that must surely be there.
The creative team at the Ensemble Theatre Company has taken up that challenge, staging through June 21 an absorbing production in the round at The New Vic in Santa Barbara. Dispensing with the proscenium helps bring the audience closer to the performer, enabling some crossover. Yes, be prepared when you purchase your ticket to be one of those “chosen” to help make this a truly interactive experience.
The unnamed performer serving as Every Brilliant Thing‘s list-maker, and your guide in what proves to be mostly comfortable (and often humorous) interactions, is Nicholas Mongiardo-Cooper, a veteran actor who is clearly at ease. At least he makes a 75-minute stretch of vigorous mental and physical activity look easy.
In that, he has support from director Jenny Sullivan, no stranger to one-person shows, and a team of creatives, in particular Jared Sayeg and Randall Robert Tico, whose lighting and sound designs, respectively, are adaptable but also work beautifully.
While the production is focused on joy as the list of every brilliant thing grows longer, the journey to get there involves the unnamed performer going from seven years old (bearing witness to his beloved dog’s demise) to an adult dealing with his mother’s suicide and his own depression.
Mongiardo-Cooper is confident and charming, giving a visceral performance that at times only requires a simple gesture to cue the needed response from a member of the audience. You sense that even out of breath he actually enjoys having tried to high-five every member of the audience.
ETC’s production of Every Brilliant Thing is a joyful experience built out of heart-breaking vignettes. Mongiardo-Cooper displays tender vulnerability along with a sturdy stamina that not only endears him to his audience, but speaks truth to the play’s affirmation of life.