My daughter and I went into Every Brilliant Thing blind last night, and from the first scene, I found myself crying—and regularly throughout the performance. It was a deeply personal and moving experience, especially given my own family's history with bipolar disorder (my mother’s, mine, and my children’s).
Even with the dark subject matter—the story of a young person compiling a list of everything that makes life worth living to console a mother struggling with depression—Sarah Jenkins’s natural improv background and perfect comic timing offered much-needed moments of air and light. The show was interactive, but in a charming and non-intrusive way, thankfully not like "in CATS where a spandex wrapped hypermobile actor climbs into your lap."
This production by High Tide Theatre, based on the play by Duncan Macmillan and Jonny Donahoe, is a powerful reminder of hope. It centers around a woman who, from a young age, starts compiling a list of everything that makes life worth living in an effort to console her mother, who is struggling with depression.
Featuring the incredible Sarah Jenkins, the play runs November 13-15, 2025, at The Lightroom Lounge at Martha’s Vineyard. If you have the chance to see it, bring an open heart and perhaps a tissue or two. It’s a brilliant, brilliant thing.
