This January, renowned Canadian actor Steve Ross is reprising his starring role in New Stages Theatre Company’s new production of the hit solo play Every Brilliant Thing, running for five performances at the Market Hall Performing Arts Centre in downtown Peterborough.
Both heart wrenching and hilarious, Every Brilliant Thing tells the story of an unnamed narrator’s journey from boyhood to adulthood while creating a list for his clinically depressed mother of everything in the world that makes life worthwhile — a list that begins when he is seven years old with “ice cream,” “water fights,” and “staying up past your bedtime and being allowed to watch TV” and continues to expand throughout his life until it takes on a life of its own.
Originally written by English playwright Duncan MacMillan as a short story in 2009, Every Brilliant Thing become a theatrical collaboration between MacMillan and Irish stand-up comedian and actor Jonny Donahoe, who used his comedic improvisation skills to help develop the play — which relies on interaction with the audience.
First performed by Donahoe at the Ludlow Fringe Festival in 2013, the play went on to a critically acclaimed run at Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2014, before opening in Barrow Street Theater in New York City later that year, with one of Donahoe’s off-Broadway performances filmed for a 2015 HBO special.
Reviewing the Edinburgh Festival Fringe production, The Guardian called it “one of the funniest plays you’ll ever see about depression — and possibly one of the funniest plays you’ll ever see, full stop.”
A long-time member of the Stratford Festival company, Ross will be reprising the role he first performed in a New Stages production of Every Brilliant Thing in January 2020, just before the pandemic. Directed by Linda Kash, the play had a sold-out nine-show run at the intimate black-box theatre The Theatre on King in downtown Peterborough.
VIDEO: HBO trailer for “Every Brilliant Thing” performed by Johnny Donahoe
“Every audience differs by who they are and what they bring to the table,” Ross told kawarthaNOW in 2020. “It also feels like this show is different with every actor who does it. Because the show is conversational, the line is immediately blurred.”
Directed by Randy Read, the January production of Every Brilliant Thing is being staged at the larger Market Hall Performing Arts Centre, with performances at 7:30 p.m. from Wednesday, January 18th through Saturday, January 21st, with a 1 p.m. matinee performance on Sunday, January 22nd.
“With humour and warmth, Stratford actor Steve Ross is simply remarkable in the lead role, a man who reflects back on his family life, his encounters with depression, and how he’s found a way to keep going in difficult times,” reads a New Stages description of the production. “A perfect play for our times, Every Brilliant Thing is a much-needed reminder of all the little things that make life worth living.”
General admission tickets are $30 ($15 for arts workers, students, or the underwaged) and are available in person at the Market Hall box office at 140 Charlotte Street from 12 to 5 p.m. Monday to Friday or online anytime at tickets.markethall.org.
Note: Every Brilliant Thing has a trigger warning for themes of suicide and is not recommended for children 13 and younger.
For more information about New Stages Theatre Company, its current season, and for season subscriptions, visit www.newstages.ca.
kawarthaNOW is proud to be media sponsor of New Stages Theatre Company’s 25th anniversary season.
This story has been updated with the following correction: Randy Read, not Linda Kash, is directing the 2023 production.
