AN acclaimed solo drama, produced by Margie Barbour, former director of the Marine at Lyme Regis, comes to the theatre on 19th March with two performances of Every Brilliant Thing, at 1.30pm and 7.30.

Every Brilliant Thing was a sell-out at Bridport last year and a success in London, with a cast on rotation that included Lenny Henry, Sue Perkins and Minnie Driver. In February Daniel Radcliffe took it to New York.

Margie Barbour explains the story of the play: “You’re seven years old. Mum’s in hospital. Dad says she’s ‘done something stupid’. She finds it hard to be happy. You start a list of everything that’s brilliant about the world. Everything worth living for. You leave it on her pillow. You know she’s read it because she’s corrected your spelling.”

1: Ice cream – as a child
993: Having desert as a main course – as a teenager
999,999: Completing a task – at the end of the play.

Margie says that her brother’s suicide, aged 17, had changed her whole family’s life, and so she knew at first hand the impact of suicide: “This play is life affirming and shows the healing power of connection.

“From when I first came across it I wanted to find an opportunity to produce it, finding Romla Walker, a professional actress, ready to take it on, was the answer to a director’s dream! It ends restating the importance of talking about things, especially the things that are difficult to talk about.”

The play by Duncan MacMillan and Jonny Donahoe, is a funny, moving and interactive play that reveals the effect of mental illness on families. It uses powerful music, from Ramsey Lewis’s I’m In with the In Crowd to Ella Fitzgerald and the Ink Spots performing Into Each Life a Little Rain Must Fall.

Dramaturg Chris Fogg, who came to rehearsals, said: “Romla Walker gives a performance that is professional in every way, unforgettable, virtuosic, wittily nuanced and full of surprises, directed with precise, subtle clarity and assurance by Margie Barbour.”

Audience comments after Romla Walker’s performance at Bridport’s Lyric were enthusiastic: “I loved it, one of the most moving pieces of theatre I’ve ever witnessed,” said one. “Her comic timing is astonishing, and the Whitstable cameo conjured the British seaside in one crossing of her arms. Extraordinary.” Another said: “It was sensational. If you haven’t already seen it, it’s a privilege to watch.”

The performances in Bridport raised over £1000 for suicide charities James’ Place UK and The Samaritans.

Photograph © Tim Russ