Every Brilliant Thing – @sohoplace – Saturday 23rd August 2025

(Rated 10/5) Often – though not quite always 😉 – I’m drawn to a show because someone I like is going to be performing in it. It occurred to me just before I started to write this, that there is a clear reason from my own childhood as to why that is the case. I am the child of a mother with bipolar or manic depression. And amongst the ways I developed to navigate that (and other associated challenges) starting from maybe 7/8 years old was to imagine, and later write down my own stories. I realise looking back that that was my key ‘Brilliant Thing’ to help me escape. Of course, that in itself is a very common childhood device, but for me it became about writing plays so that I could work with the performers I liked at the time… R2D2, then Harrison Ford in conjunction with my first girl crush Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia. ‘Star Wars’ of course on my own Brilliant Things list!! Someone I feel has been around my whole life, and well he has, but when I was about that age, and the age of the narrator in ‘Every Brilliant Thing’ by Duncan MacMillan and Jonny Donahoe, (now Sir) Lenny Henry first appeared on television. That first impression by Lenny of Frank Spencer on ‘New Faces’ happened when I was 8 years old. But then Lenny went on to do absolutely everything anybody could possibly do in the entertainment world almost – Kids’ TV, stand-up comedy straight acting, Shakespeare, singing (including on the Brilliant Thing Kate Bush’s album ‘Red Shoes’), screenwriting and playwriting… perhaps the only thing he hasn’t done is dancing… come on ‘Strictly’, sign him up… he clearly can dance. And that isn’t even mentioning his numerous charity- works, especially being a founding member of ‘Comic Relief’… and even more recently swimming with Sharks in ‘Celebrity Infested Waters’! He is someone around whom I feel happy and safe whenever he appears on screen or stage, and has the best smile ever. Another Brilliant Thing ‘Lenny Henry’s cheeky grin’ 😊 So, yep, you’ve guessed it, Lenny was the draw for ‘Every Brilliant Thing’, and to be honest, I only wanted to see it with him though I’m sure all the others are great, then second looking at the subject matter, and being a child who spent so much of their life wanting to fix my Mum, make her happy and save her from suicide, well ‘Gotta do it’!

However, then came a slightly scary discovery. ‘Every Brilliant Thing’ involves audience participation. Now you might think that the Restricted Reviewer would relish that, didn’t she just write that was the Brilliant Thing in her head as a child, which helped her feel happy. And yes, that’s true, but, being an adult, it can be a totally different matter. Which, ironically is addressed in the play itself, though not so ironic, given this play addresses Every Single Brilliant and not so Brilliant Thing about life, depression, highs and lows… a comedy about depression, well yes… which brings to mind my absolutely Brilliantest Thing as a child would be my Mum’s laugh, smile, cheeky chuckle and the way her whole face lit up when it happened. So, given adult Me and even more so my theatre-going friend for this one both felt pretty scared at the prospect of participating, we avoided booking ourselves into the audience participation front row seats. Little did we know, and only discovered when we actually went into the auditorium to take our seats, anybody could be asked to ‘do stuff’! The front row was indeed for people who might be asked to improvise with Lenny – be his character’s vet, counsellor, father or love interest… OMG if only I’d been brave enough to be the love interest lol. But other people are asked to lend pens, books, jackets, take their shoes and socks off (well go see if you’re interested to find what that’s all about), and mainly read some item from the list of ‘Every Brilliant Thing’. As we went in, we spotted Lenny talking to people over the other side of the space. He then turned and we waved. He started coming over. My friend was giving me ‘Oh no, he’s going to ask us to do stuff’ vibes, and I was feeling both nervous, yet also super-excited. And he arrived, and I beamed “Hi Lenny”. He asked if we had loud voices, my friend said she really didn’t and of course there would be no way he should ask her to do anything – to that effect anyway. So, he turned to me. Could I read a long piece? Yikes, no, not a long piece, but yes, to something – all of which I didn’t quite say, but I think my face implied. So, he gave me Brilliant Thing Number 320 and explained I was to say it ‘loud and proud’ and with enthusiasm when he gave me the cue. And off he went. And I turned to my friend – or was she anymore landing me in it 😉 – and asked if I have a loud voice. I really don’t have a loud voice. Oh crikey, but does that actually matter maybe as I’ve just had a conversation with one of my heroes from childhood right through to adulthood – Lenny Henry – Knight-of-the-Realm/Legend/National-Treasure, and he asked me to do something and of course I – Inner Child - was going to say yes, but OMG now I actually have to do it!! And breathe…

And so, Lenny started the show, and straight away, someone went wrong not coming in with Brilliant Thing Number 1, when he said ‘1’, causing enormous hilarity as he reacted to that and said he would have to start again. Similar happened with 2 or was it 3, and again Lenny reacted with wonderful humorous tellings-off and restarting, immediately engaging absolutely everybody in the room. There were a catalogue of mishaps – the guest support cast not doing as requested or needing directions he implied he didn’t think they’d need. But, of course, all of that was what made the performance so special and so inclusive. It all felt so natural – even though I have a sneeky suspicion some were sort of set-up, but none of that mattered at all. Lenny worked the room and all of us to perfection. “It’s your show!”, he had said to us before he started and we really were all creatives in it. ‘Different Every Night’ is a book on performance that I love, and in this case, for this show, and all the gazillion (maybe) times it has been performed with multitudes of people across the whole world, naturally it’s going to be different every single time. And that is one of the Brilliant Things about it! And with all the hilarious poignant bonkersness going on, I sort of forgot to be nervous. But, I was still listening carefully for my cue. It turned out that not Every Brilliant Thing is actually spoken in the show, so there are jumps, and even numbers out of order. So, I certainly couldn’t be sure when mine would come. Then seemingly suddenly, Lenny was at 317… 318… my heart racing, internally trying to raise the volume switch on my voice… 319… the 319 person saying their Brilliant Thing… Lenny: “Three Hundred and Twenty” Me: “Making up after an argument” And, I don’t actually remember doing it, or have any idea if I was loud or proud in my delivery, but my eyes were fixed on him, and he was clearly actively listening and reacted to it, nodding and seeming to embrace it inwards, which I could see on his face and through his body. So simple yet so special! I’d acted with Lenny Henry. Definitely a Brilliant Thing <3

I’m certainly not going to negatively criticise those much braver folk who played the supporting roles from the front row, but feedback-wise from my POV the counsellor lady was the best, the father was hilarious in his efforts at mime, which Lenny repeatedly told him to stop, the vet man didn’t know where the thigh on the dog was to inject the poor pet with a pen, but then again how could you when the dog was someone’s jacket! I can’t remember a great deal about the university professor man, except he kept being interrupted by Lenny lol! It was a shame that the lady playing love-interest Sam seemed to feel awkward, but I’m certain if I’d have had that opportunity, I’d have been far more awkward and struck dumb with nerves and awe! The brave participant who read out the incredibly long and complicated Brilliant Thing did very well I thought. And stood up to deliver it too.

A few stand-out moments for me: One of the books Lenny received from the audience as a prop was Julian Clary’s ‘Curtain Call to Murder’ with a review on the back, which he read out, from Lenny’s own ex-wife Dawn French! (For anyone who doesn’t know, as I understand it Lenny and Dawn are still very good friends, and he even gave her support with her new dating after they split, but sadly it was Lenny’s own depression and mid-life crisis following a series of close bereavements, which broke them up.) His expression when he said her name was priceless 😉 Lenny’s powerful performance as the closed-off father in response to the series of ‘Whys’ from the father-playing-audience-member, who played his character for a little section – it reminded me of the range of Lenny’s performance skills. Lenny Henry saying ‘Mr Potato Head’ 😊 Brilliant Thing ‘The seventh track on all the greatest albums’ – I need to check that one out. Sam calling their black Labrador dog ‘Metaphor’ – I mean and how Lenny delivers that again! The joke from the counsellor lady – ‘Knock, Knock’, ‘Who’s There?’, ‘Bear’, ‘Bear Who’, ‘Bear Bum’ – don’t know if that was her own joke or from the playscript, but lovely improvisation if not. And particularly poignant for me a section around as a child of a depressive suicidal parent not really being able to enjoy the ups in the knowledge the downs would come after, and trying to just keep things calm and stable – I can so relate! Additionally in that section on how neuroscience shows the brain of that child to be literally changed as a result of the experience. (I have already got myself the play script and looking forward to taking in all this again.)

It's difficult to know – and again as I haven’t read it yet I can’t say – how close Lenny’s performance of ‘Every Brilliant Thing’ was to the original script, though apparently also each performer worked with Duncan MacMillan to develop their own version. Of course, in performing it on each occasion new things will always come up and the main performer is going to have to work with that and adapt to it. Lenny gave us the wonderful whole variety of his skills in this – adding to his obvious repertoire (listed above) playing keyboard and dancing too. We had Every Brilliant Thing about Sir Lenworth George Henry! (Forgive me 😉)

As an experience for me in the embracing intimacy of @sohoplace, in the power of all it brought up for me – Happy and Sad – and in realising a Childhood Dream this was a Brilliant Thing deserving of a Brilliant 10/5!!!

EveryBrilliantThing – Review by TheRestrictedReviewer © 2025

As You Like It – @sohoplace Theatre – Saturday 7th January 2023

(Rated 7/5) As We Liked It – I would say – more than words can possibly express – I’d love to learn the arguably superior to words Shakespearean Sign Language (SSL) as developed by BSL consultant Nadeem Islam in collaboration with Rose Ayling-Ellis (playing Celia) and Gabriella Leon (playing Audrey) together with associate director Katie-Ann McDonough for their performances in this production – to express the sheer delight, joy, laughter, intense feelings of being utterly moved, heightened excitement, and plain awe – if awe can be plain – at what we were witnessing! This play seems to often be dismissed by those in the know – although as will become apparent – what do they know?! – as one of Shakespeare’s weaker comedies. It is judged to be a little lame in plot and of course with the usual mistaken-identities comedy device, he seemed to use in – well – all of his comedies as well as it trickling into some of his other plays. But, in this truly wonderful production by extremely accomplished director Josie Rourke, the mistaken-identities business is interpreted to its most rich. The casting of this show – yes it really is a show not just a play – couldn’t be more diverse and inclusive. Fantastic actors and performers from all creeds and colours and gender identities – he, she, they and not necessarily I’m sure those they were given at birth – as well as sexualities I’d imagine – even though the play does still ‘require’ for one pairing at least, the preference for each individual to be a member of the opposite gender. I am aware that I have a tendency in my reviews to say ‘this is the best ever bla bla…’ and here I go again: this is the best ensemble performance I think I have ever seen! And so, I will take you to the beginning: The audience were all sitting in our seats ready for the drama to commence, when a man who I thought had come from the audience, walked up to the piano and played some notes! Uumm, whaatt? Well the fact that the captions on the four screens showed the notes being played gave me the answer that, ok, yes, this is not a member of the audience randomly walking on stage – a pretty easy mistake to make as you have to walk on a bit of the stage to get to your seats if you’re in the stalls. The fact that he was actually a performer himself was confirmed when he put on the jacket – complete with beautifully Elizabethan ruff – now we know what time we are entering into – and properly took us all along with him into the play. This man turned out to be the music composer – as well as pianist – his name Michael Bruce. Oh, my goodness a name to remember! And he didn’t just play the piano – well ok yes in essence he did – but he reacted brilliantly to all the other cast members – as though he was another character – which effectively he was though not one created by Shakespeare himself as far as we know. The music from the midi piano – I have it on good authority that that’s a piano which can be kind of pre-programmed so a section of music can be produced by simply hitting one switch – was the most enchanting player in this show. And at its sound along came the entire cast onto the stage to open the show with joy and merriment. (I happily saw Rose Ayling-Ellis – you never know when one of the key reasons for choosing to go to something may be absent and you’d get the understudy instead.) A candelabra on the piano together with an impressive chandelier – both with real candles – and the dress of those present guided us into the opening scenes in the court of Duke Frederick (Tom Edden). So, then what happens? Well following some playful – between heroin Rosalind (Leah Harvey) and her cousin Frederick’s daughter Celia (Rose Ayling-Ellis) and not-so-playful - between hero Orlando (Alfred Enoch) and his brother Oliver (Ben Wiggins) - wrestling and interactions establishing the key characters and their relationships, Rosalind, Celia and court fool, Touchstone (Tom Mison) decide to flee to the forest of Arden with Rosalind disguised as a young man and Celia as a poor lady as Frederick has become angry with his niece Rosalind. Rosalind’s father – the exiled Duke Senior (also Tom Edden) lives there with various supporters, including Jaques (Martha Plimpton), who has the honour of delivering the “All the world’s a stage…” speech. It should also be noted that Rosalind and Orlando have fallen in love at court, but then Orlando also has to flee following his fight with Oliver and dispute with Duke Frederick. So basically, the entire cast of characters ends up in the Forest of Arden. Let the mistaken-identities shenanigans begin!! And it really does become wonderfully entwined and complicated! I was most interested to see Rose and her SSL. Incorporated into it is not just BSL, but elements of visual vernacular, sign mime and gesture to convey her emotions. Rose was a very active Celia indeed! The words of Shakespeare she was performing were posted up on the screens (as was the entire script) and sometimes I’d look to check I was interpreting her correctly, but she was phenomenal. She only actually spoke once and in doing so indicated a fundamental issue going on for her character and what was expected of her by her father – so poignant. There are many lovers in this play (all mixed up but eventually coming together neatly!) and each couple beautifully develops their own language of love – be it with the use of words, sign, mime, song and/or dance and movement. The piano and its operator Michael kind of becomes the interactive plaything and conductor for all the performers. This is no school-play interpretation but a really highly sophisticated, clever, enchanting and engaging experience for everyone. As my theatre companion dad said ‘It’s Insightful, philosophical tomfoolery’ with Shakespeare’s Troubadours exceptionally and expertly showing off his poetic language of human nature and love. Many of the cast sung, but for me the most gorgeous voice came from Allie Daniel as Amiens and ‘Court Lady’. Everybody had comic turns, but Tom Mison’s Touchstone was outstanding and interacted well with audience members too. I wished I’d been one of those he deliberately chose for one of the teasing jokes! Leah Harvey was superb in the lead role of Rosalind. I adored the immensely caring relationship between her and Rose as devoted cousins. And the little touches that Leah, Alfred and later Ben too continued to sign for her to explain what was going on even if their characters were not part of the main action at the time. Michael wins best smile for me. And as I hinted before really performed all his interactions with the characters of the play as well as responding to the dramas that were going on. He and Touchstone tuned up the goats with the piano at the start of act II causing great hilarity. It was a fantastic sight with everybody – well at least all performers even if all characters could not be as actors doubled or even tripled up roles – on stage in the last scenes. The energy of them all together just so magical. I felt so close to them all. In fact, Dad and I literally were – we could easily touch the stage – oh and in my case even steal some stage leaves which showered onto the stage to indicate the transition from court to forest! – and see every single detail of anything or anyone at our side of the stage. I noticed Syakira Moeladi’s character supposedly preparing mushrooms, but instead she just turned them round in her hands lol. Who haven’t I mentioned yet? Mary Malone – playing Phoebe – was as beautiful as her name and character name may suggest. Nathan Queeley-Dennis trying to woo Phoebe naïve yet so charming. I wanted him to win her! June Watson played dual roles Adam and Corin to great effect even transforming between them whilst lying on the piano! Cal Watson was a very handsome Le Beau. Gabriella Leon was great fun and cuddly as Audrey. Dickon Gough also very good in multiple roles. Everybody was truly excellent and inspired empathy and deep connection. I felt so highly emotional at the end and had tears – some sadness that they’d gone – but mostly just incredibly moved by the whole experience in their company. At curtain call – oh except there was no curtain and I should say that @sohoplace theatre is like a smaller and inside version of Shakespeare’s Globe with the audience in the round on all sides – the actors moved around to bow to all sections of the audience. As Rose passed me, I BSL signed my applause to her – I got a BSL and mouthed thank you 😊. The brand new – since September 2022 - @sohoplace theatre has been described as soulless. I couldn’t disagree more. It was jam packed with soul and very sensitive talented souls. I love it and want to go again – to the theatre and maybe to see ‘As I Loved It’ again <3 https://online.fliphtml5.com/iqdop/dpst/#p=5

As You Like It – Review by TheRestrictedReviewer © 2023