Approximately 20 years ago, playwright Duncan Macmillan combined a make-good for a friend with a writing assignment. In his previous play, there was a character with no lines who largely faced away from the audience, played by Rosie Thomson. As the lore now goes, after her final bow, Thomson told Macmillan: “You owe me.” Then, Macmillan was asked to write for a company called the Miniaturists, “who do tiny plays just once,” the British playwright explained. But Macmillan felt potential in that mini-play/monologue. He developed it further and reached out to comedian Jonny Donahoe, who collaborated on the script that is now an interactive solo play called “Every Brilliant Thing.” Decades later, it’s estimated that the play has been professionally produced 400 times in 63 countries. Now, it’s debuting on a Broadway in a limited engagement starring Tony Award winner Daniel Radcliffe.
The premise is that a child — in response to their mother’s suicide attempt and chronic depression— makes a list of everything worth living for. As the child grows up, the list gets longer.
Why the play was written — for Thomson and the Miniaturists — has been well-documented. But how this premise came to be… less so.
