A Brilliant Show

@sohoplace

After over ten years of performing in the UK and around the world, Every Brilliant Thing by Duncan Macmillan and Jonny Donahoe finally made its West End debut, and the critics were delighted. The solo show will star Minnie Driver, Sue Perkins, Ambika Mod, and Jonny Donahoe over the next few weeks, but the run started with a much appreciated Lenny Henry in charge.

When a mother attempts suicide when she has acute depression, her child decides to make a list about all the things that make life worth living. They  keep adding to the list as they move through adolescence into adulthood.

[Links to full reviews are included but a number are behind paywalls and therefore may not be accessible]

5 stars ⭑⭑⭑⭑⭑

Ke Meng for TheatreWeekly was impressed that ‘Macmillan’s writing is both endearing and nostalgic, a feeling I haven’t encountered in ages. His language is equally funny and poetic’. She said: ‘Lenny Henry masters the space as if it’s his own living room—chilled, playful, and chatty.’

Marianka Swain reviewing for the Telegraph was uplifted: ‘the communal storytelling format remains a neat demonstration of the play’s central thesis: it’s vital to reach out and connect with one another, whether through therapy or theatre. This life-affirming show proves that and more – an absolute tonic.’ As for Lenny Henry, she found it ‘enormous fun watching him take charge of the intimate, in-the-round @sohoplace auditorium and roll with the punches.

4 stars ⭑⭑⭑⭑

The Standard‘s Nick Curtis described it as ‘a unique show with the texture of theatre but the communal immediacy of stand-up.’ He found Lenny Henry was perfectly suited: ‘Thanks to his pre-thespian career in comedy, his natural bonhomie and the indulgence granted to him as a bona fide national treasure, Henry manages the crowd and the pivots of mood adroitly.’ He declared ‘the auditorium of @sohoplace, with its uncluttered intimacy, suits the material perfectly’

In her review for Time Out, Anya Ryan took a different view of the venue: ‘With a much greater capacity and the audience spread across three tiers, creating the world of the play feels less like a communal endeavour and more the responsibility of a select few.’ However, she added: ‘If there’s any larger venue fit to house Macmillan’s mini masterpiece, it is @sohoplace.’ She concluded: ‘For all its sorrow, the play gleams with hope. It is a truly brilliant thing.’

Fiona Mountford at the i reported: ‘Jeremy Herrin’s appealing production plays to Henry’s many strengths – twinkling with joy and mischief, he exudes an affable affinity with the audience from the get-go. This rapport is all-important, as we are integral to the action…Our fellow spectators, with all their quirks and idiosyncrasies, are delightful in their contributions’.

Helen Hawkins, sitting on The Arts Desk, thought: ‘Henry is a natural for this assignment, still a livewire performer (watch him fly as he listens to his favourite bongos solo), but warm and accessible, a born communicator and improviser who can coax even the shyest person to deliver.’ She declared: ‘In its decision to balance grief and glee and not to allow one to exclude the other, this is a clear-sighted, heartening show.’

Dave Fargnoli in The Stage described Lenny Henry’s technique: ‘Lenny Henry demonstrated his consummate facility for building a rapport with an audience through a mix of playful mockery and easy-going warmth. Henry owns the part, filling out the narrator’s character with precise personal detail. When he plays a taciturn father, a hint of a gruff Jamaican accent creeps in. When he’s representing a child, his words become clipped, shy, hesitant. There is always a smile or a wince about to break out on his face, a hitch in his voice as he prepares to share some melancholy memory.’

Holly O’Mahony at LondonTheatre compared Lenny Henry’s version to the original: ‘While there’s plenty of warmth and humour to it, I felt a depth missing. Watching Donahoe perform the part, it truly felt like his story, his depression. This version never quite plumbs those depths, and the plot is held aloof, as if secondary to the audience participation. Yet what Henry pulls off is no small feat – as a collective, participatory experience, it’s really quite brilliant.’

3 stars ⭑⭑⭑

Miriam Gillinson reported for The Guardian that ‘there’s something about the scale and downright snazziness of this production that doesn’t quite gel’ and found ‘It’s only when Henry isn’t trying to be funny that the show settles. There’s a stillness and steeliness to him when he talks about the importance of protecting our mental health.’

At BroadwayWorld, Alexander Cohen found ‘Where other performers have leaned into the childlike innocence of the narrator, Henry opts instead for something heavier. Memories are explored with emotional clarity rather than nostalgic whimsy, a choice that lends this iteration a quiet gravity that avoids sentimentality.’

Critics’ average rating: 4.0⭑

Every Brilliant Thing can be seen at @sohoplace until 8 November 2025. Click here to buy tickets directly from the theatre

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