Humour and compassion as tough topic addressed

Arts Week with Judy Murphy

Ice-cream, water fights, the colour yellow, staying up late to watch TV – these are just some of the things that bring joy to the character in Every Brilliant Thing.

The Abbey Theatre will be visiting Galway next week with this one-person play which premiered in England in 2013 and which has gone onto international success. It begins with a seven-year-old child listing off her reasons as to why life is worth living. But this is no frivolous pursuit. The child –  a girl in this production –  is trying to persuade her suicidal mother that there are many reasons to love life.

Actor and writer Amy Conroy, whose most recent Galway appearance was at the Black Box Theatre in July 2019 for the Arts Festival-Abbey co-production of Citysong, stars in this show and her performance has been widely praised since Every Brilliant Thing opened on the Peacock stage of the National Theatre last month.

It’s currently on a national tour.

Kerry-born Amy was approached by the Abbey about performing in the play which was written by Duncan Macmillan with Jonny Donahoe and which uses a light touch to explore issues around depression.

Amy read it and was hooked.

“It’s a unique piece and feels so special. It’s a challenge too because you are crossing that conversational sense with theatricality,” she explains.

Every Brilliant Thing is directed by Andrea Ainsworth and during the five-week rehearsal period, it was mostly just Amy, Andrea and stage manager, Brendan Galvin, in the room.

That was a tricky process, Amy says, because this is a play that needs an audience, and she praises her two collaborators for their patience with her jokes.

The jokes were a necessary part of the process because, while the theme is serious and there are some heart-breaking moments, the story is told in a life-affirming way.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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