Review: EVERY BRILLIANT THING at Space Theatre, Adelaide Festival Centre

Reviewed by Ewart Shaw, Wednesday 3rd May 2023.

Play is what we do. A play is where we go. State Theatre's double bill in the Space Theatre counterpoints the legal passions of Prima Facie with this heart-warming sort of solo show. I say 'sort of' because Every Brilliant Thing takes audience involvement into a new and delightful place.

Jimi Bani is totally loveable, taking the audience to his heart and they return the compliment. The story is simple. As a seven-year-old, he starts to cope with his mother's health condition by scribbling a list of brilliant things, starting with suggestions from the audience and continuing the therapy at different times in his life. The numbers mount up. They are simple things: ice cream, pineapple on pizza, and dry socks.

His engagement with everyone is a brilliant thing. You can't take your eyes off him, but he's an actor. He is always in control, ever vigilant, and plays his audience like a virtuoso. Watch him make subtle contact with the sound operator, Olivia Aquilina, in the bio box for the music cues. There are cultural references and images that don't square with Bani's Australian and indigenous identity. The play is, in fact, the creation of two men: Duncan MacMillan and Jonny Donahoe, British writers and comedians, and the hard core, the grit at the heart of this many-layered pearl, is suicide, and Bani delivers guidance on how to discuss it and where to go for help.

We're being played at the same time. Some of the spontaneous callouts are carefully scripted; the audience members are handed their notes as they arrive. I'm certain that the woman in the great shoes who plays the dog sock puppet/counsellor is genuine. The well-dressed man, who, at one point, plays both father and son, is just too good to be true. Director, Yasmin Gurreeboo, has lots of friends she can call on.

I sound churlish. It's like watching Penn and Teller Fool Us. Even as we are enthralled by the magic, we know the sleight of hand, the misdirection. We recognize the years of experience in theatrical storytelling that all those involved bring to the evening. Just go. It's great fun, and just the thing to take the edge off a cold May evening.

Photography, Matt Byrne.