BL ACK SWAN STATE THEATRE COMPANY OF WA PRESENTS
EV E RY B R IL L I A NT T HI NG WRITTEN BY DUNCAN MACMILLAN WITH JONNY DONAHOE
TOTAL RUNNING TIME: 1 HOURS 15 MINUTES (NO INTERVAL). PRINCIPAL PARTNER
EVERY BRILLIANT THING
Black Swan State Theatre Company of WA acknowledges the Whadjuk people of the Nyoongar nation who are the traditional custodians of country on which State Theatre Centre stands. We pay our respects to all First Peoples, to their ancestors and Elders. It is a privilege to be together on Nyoongar country.
PLEASE WATCH
our special 30th Birthday Welcome to Country by Dr Richard Walley OAM. CLICK HERE TO WATCH
Content Warning: The production contains references to self-harm and suicide. Recommended Age 12+
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A NOTE FROM DIRECTOR ADAM MITCHELL Q&A WITH PERFORMER LUKE HEWITT CAST, CREATIVES AND CREW BIOGRAPHIES RESOURCES ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
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CONTENTS
EVERY BRILLIANT THING
SYNOPSIS
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EVERY BRILLIANT THING
SYNOPSIS PERFORMED IN-THE-ROUND, BY THE INCREDIBLE LUKE HEWITT, EVERY BRILLIANT THING IS AN HOUR OF LIFE-AFFIRMING HUMOUR.
This international sensation invites audience members into the story as fathers, lovers, friends, and allies, following one person’s life in the shadow of mental illness. From the broad #4 ‘The Colour Yellow’ to the detailed #9998 ‘Watching someone watch your favourite film’, this joyous and intimate work shows us the miracles in life’s minutiae. “One of the funniest plays you’ll ever see about depression - and possibly one of the funniest plays you’ll ever see, full stop.” - The Guardian
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EVERY BRILLIANT THING
A NOTE FROM THE DIRECTOR ADAM MITCHELL
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EVERY BRILLIANT THING
ADAM MITCHELL It is almost the end of our rehearsal process; the truck is packed and we are about to depart the rehearsal room here at the State Theatre Centre in Perth and head to our first performance dates in the Pilbara. Looking around the country at the companies and theatres that have been forced to cancel or reschedule their seasons, we realise how very lucky we are to be sending this joyous little show out on the road. Of course, any part of our tour could fall victim to a cancellation or postponement but there is no better antidote for this uncertainty than a show that celebrates the resilient human spirit. I do think it is important to remind our audience (and even sometimes we forget) that a solo work is a marathon for an actor. Every Brilliant Thing asks even more from a performer as the show changes with every audience and every suggestion they make. It has been joyous to again direct the chameleon performer, Luke Hewitt. His
BLACK SWAN STATE THEATRE COMPANY OF WA
warmth, charisma and generosity are three brilliant things to add to my list of brilliant things and it is wonderful to work with a performer at the very top of their game. I would like to thank the brilliance of Fiona Bruce, Kristie Smith and Melanie Robinson - the designers and collaborators on this project - who were simply…well… they are also on my list, as are the staff at Black Swan that keep the cogs turning. Thank you. In our test audiences over the past few weeks (and I must thank everyone who came along to one of our showings) a few members of our audience did find some of the content in the show challenging. If you find yourself at lost end after the show, or notice you are still chewing over the tricky moments even in a week or two later, there are a number of organisations here to help. These are listed on page seventeen of the program, and there is information in the foyer of each venue that we visit. Enjoy the show, a.
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EVERY BRILLIANT THING
Q&A WITH PERFORMER LUKE HEWITT
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EVERY BRILLIANT THING
When people ask you about this production, how do you describe Every Brilliant Thing? It’s a unique kind of show for a performer. It feels more like telling a story to people who’ve come around for dinner than performing a show. It’s unique for the audience, too. The house lights never go to black. Everyone can see everyone and there is no traditional Fourth Wall experience separating the audience from the story. They are included in the telling of it, which I feel magnifies that feeling of a shared experience, of familiarity, of understanding. It’s funny, it’s sad, its heart-warming, all mixed together. What drew you to Every Brilliant Thing? All of the aspects of the show in my previous answer, really. As a performer, of course every gig is different, however, its difference is most often within that familiar framework of a play or a musical, for example. I’ve never done anything like this before and that’s exciting. The production is also a massive creative workout for an actor. There are serious roles, comic roles, musical roles, romantic roles, dramatic roles etc. but this includes all of these at times throughout the story. It’s hard work, but ultimately very satisfying.
A one-person play is demanding at the best of times… adding audience participation into the mix seems next-level! What are the rewards and challenges of the audience participation element? Yes, a one-person show is a challenge. But the audience aspect of this piece, I think, is what makes it a special experience for everyone, me included. The experience of the story is made richer for the audience through their involvement, and mine is made richer each night because it adds a level of unexpectedness and excitement that I don’t know what’s going to come out each night. How do you look after participants (and even the audience as a whole) in a play that deals with depression and suicide? The play itself has been meticulously crafted with regard to this. Yes, it is dealing with a very difficult subject, but I feel it is less about suicide itself, rather it’s the ripples that such an event has throughout a person’s life. It’s something that there are few degrees of separation from, for a great many of us. I feel that the heart, the hope and the humour in the play, and its familiarity, the fact that we all have had some connection to this tragedy, that no one is alone in this experience, is a great support both for me and the audience.
The play involves audience participation – how is this structured? Do people know in advance that they’re going to be participating? Is it voluntary? How do you select who is going to participate? Yes, there is some participation. Most importantly, it’s handled with kindness and respect. No one is making anyone cluck like a chicken or bark like a dog or dance or make fools of themselves.. we are all involved in the telling of this story.
Source: Interview with Seesaw Magazine.
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EVERY BRILLIANT THING
Cast, Creatives & Crew
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EVERY BRILLIANT THING
CAST PERFORMER
Luke Hewitt
CREATIVES WRITER
Duncan Macmillan
WRITER
Jonny Donahoe
DIRECTOR SET & COSTUME CONSULTANT COMPOSER & SOUND DESIGNER LIGHTING DESIGNER
Adam Mitchell Fiona Bruce Melanie Robinson Kristie Smith
CREW STAGE MANAGER
Hugo Aguilar López
Every Brilliant Thing was first produced by Paines Plough and Pentabus Theatre, on 28 June 2013 at Ludlow Fringe Festival.
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EVERY BRILLIANT THING
BIOGRAPHIES
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EVERY BRILLIANT THING
CAST
LUKE HEWITT / PERFORMER Nominated for BEST ACTOR 2003, 2004, 2006, 2010, 2012, 2014 and winner of the Perth Theatre Trust/Equity Guild Award for Best Actor in both 2008 and 2009, Luke has been acting professionally in Perth for more than 25 years. He has performed on main stages in Perth, Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane as well as in TV and film. Luke is also a well-known voice over artist and narrator having recorded countless advertising spots since 1987, and is the voice of Outback Truckers (8 Seasons), Railroad Australia (2 Seasons), Outback Pilots and Outback Opal Hunters (4 Seasons) for Prospero/7Mate/ Discovery. Luke has been a proud Equity member since 1987. Credits include: Theatre – Perth Theatre Company: Alienation, An Oak Tree, Speed-the-Plow, Amadeus, Face to Face, Milk and Honey. Black Swan State Theatre Company: Assassins, Clinton the Musical, Caucasian Chalk Circle, A Perfect Specimen, Boundary Street, Death of a Salesman, Streetcar Names Desire, Glengarry Glen Ross, As You Like It, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, 12th Night, Much Ado About Nothing, Cyrano de Bergerac, Red Dog, One Destiny. Deckchair Theatre Company: Taking Liberty, Krakouer!, Wonderlands, As You Like It, A Comedy of Errors, Twelfth Night, Much Ado About Nothing, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Romeo and Juliet. kompany M: Tours of the Gun, Road Train, Bone Dry. Sydney Theatre Company: One Day in ’67. Yirra Yaakin: One Day in ’67, King Hit. Belvoir / Griffin / Thinice: Love Me Tender (Sydney /Perth) Kay and McLean: The Graduate (Perth / Melbourne) TV: Dafuq (Mad Kids/ABC), Small Town Hackers (Mad Kids Webseries), Serangoon Road (Series ABC / HBO Asia), The War That Changed Us (Series ABC), Australia’s Outback Truckers (Narrator Series 1-7, 7Mate/Discovery), Outback Pilots (Narrator, 7Mate/Discovery), Railroad Australia (Narrator Series 1 -3, 7, Mate/ Discovery), Outback Opal Hunters (Narrator Series 1 & 2, 7 Mate/ Discovery), Cloudstreet (miniseries), - ABC’s Building Australia Series: Pipe Dreams, Streetsmartz, Parallax, Wormwood, Bush Patrol, and Ship to Shore. Film: Jasper Jones, Otherlife, The Naked Wanderer, Two Fists One Heart, Stone Bros, Crush, Wait Till Your Father Gets Home, George Jones and the Giant Squid.
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EVERY BRILLIANT THING
CREATIVES
DUNCAN MACMILLAN / WRITER Theatre includes: Lungs (Old Vic; Studio Theatre, Washington DC; Paines Plough/Sheffield Crucible); Rosmersholm (Duke Of York’s, West End); People, Places and Things (Headlong/National Theatre/ West End/St Ann’s Warehouse, New York/UK tour); 1984 (co-written/ co-directed with Robert Icke, Headlong/West End/Broadway/ National and International tours); Every Brilliant Thing (Paines Plough/ Pentabus/Barrow Street Theatre, New York, UK & International tours/ HBO); City Of Glass (HOME/Lyric Hammersmith), 2071 (co-written with Chris Rapley) Royal Court/Hamburg Schauspielhaus); The Forbidden Zone (Salzburg Festival/Schaubühne Berlin/ Barbican); Wunschloses Unglück (Burgtheater Vienna); Reise Durch die Nacht (Schauspielhaus Köln/Festival d’Avignon/ Theatertreffen); Monster (Royal Exchange Manchester). Other writing includes Love Lockdown (Schaubühne Online), Grounded (Headlong/ BBC) and Trigonometry (co-written with Effie Woods, BBC/HBO).
JONNY DONAHOE / WRITER Jonny Donahoe is an actor, comedian, playwright, screenwriter, broadcaster, musician, orthodox off-spinner, decent slip-catcher and frustrating lower-order batsman. His one-man show Every Brilliant Thing, (which he co-wrote and originally performed), has played more than six hundred times over four continents, including five months off-Broadway at The Barrow Street Theatre. The show was filmed by World of Wonder and screened as a special on HBO. He was nominated for a Drama Desk Award, Lucille Lortel Award and an Off-Broadway Alliance Award for his performance. He is the frontman of musical-comedy-satirists, Jonny and The Baptists, as well as regularly performing stand-up in his own right. His play 30 Christmases (starring himself and Rachel Parris), premiered at The Old Fire Station in Oxford, before transferring to the New Diorama Theatre in London. He has also created a twelve-part series on parenthood with real-life partner Josie Long called Josie and Jonny Are Having a Baby (With You) for American Podcast Network, MidRoll, and more recently has written the acclaimed new play Forgiveness that he will bring to the fringe soon.
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EVERY BRILLIANT THING
CREATIVES ADAM MITCHELL / DIRECTOR BLACK SWAN: Summer of the Seventeenth Doll, Clinton: The Musical, Next to Normal, Flood, Death of a Salesman, The Motherf**ker with the Hat, Boy Gets Girl, When the Rain Stops Falling. The HotBed Ensemble: Yellow Moon: The Ballad of Leila and Lee, The Shape of Things, pool (no water), The Dark Room, Portraits of Modern Evil, The Caucasian Chalk Circle, The Laramie Project, Falling Petals. OTHER THEATRE: Mimma: A Musical of War and Friendship, The Last Great Hunt: The Great Ridolphi. NIDA: Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown. Victorian College of the Arts: On the Town, Blue Room Theatre: Those Who Fall In Love Like Anchors Dropped Upon the Ocean Floor. The MOXY Collective: The Polite Gentleman. WAAPA: Arabian Nights, RENT, Pride and Prejudice, The Children of Eden, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, The Comedy of Errors, Beauty and the Beast. CABARET: 2019 Adelaide Cabaret Festival: Dragon Lady – The Many Lives and Deaths of Anna May Wong. OPERA: WAAPA: Little Women. POSITIONS: Adam was Black Swan’s Associate Director from 2007-2010, Resident Director 2013 and the Director of The HotBed Ensemble from 2008-2010. He is a member of the Lincoln Center Theater Directors Lab (New York). AWARDS: 2019 PAWA Award for Best Director for Summer of the Seventeenth Doll, 2017 PAWA Award for Best Director for Clinton: The Musical, 2016 Martin Sims and The West Australian Arts Editor Award for The Great Ridolphi, 2016 PAWA Award and 2015 Blue Room Award for Best Production for Those Who Fall in Love… 2014 PAWA Award for Best Production for Boy Gets Girl, 2013 Equity Guild Award for Best Director for When the Rain Stops Falling, 2010 Equity Guild Award for Best Director and Best Production for The Shape of Things.
FIONA BRUCE / SET & COSTUME CONSULTANT Fiona’s previous Black Swan State Theatre Company set and costume design credits include Water (2019),The Seagull (2014), Dust (2014), Midsummer [A Play with Songs] (2013), Shrine (costume 2013), Shakespeare Shenanigans (2013), Boy Gets Girl (2012), Yellow Moon (2010) and The Shape of Things (2010). In 2017 Fiona was part of Melbourne Theatre Company’s Women in Theatre Program and the National Gallery of Victoria’s 2017 Art and Design Triennial exhibition design team. She has also collaborated on several independent theatre productions and has won two Performing Arts WA Awards for set design. Fiona holds a Masters in Communication Design (RMIT), and B.Arts from WAAPA and Curtin University.
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EVERY BRILLIANT THING
CREATIVES
MELANIE ROBINSON / COMPOSER & SOUND DESIGNER Award-winning musician Melanie Robinson is a cellist, singer, composer and arranger. A graduate of the West Australian Academy of Performing Arts (Bachelor of Music), Melanie has just returned to Western Australia after 12 years based in Melbourne, from where she toured, co-wrote and collaborated with some of Australia’s finest performers. These include: Tim Rogers, You Am I, Megan Washington, William Barton, The Black Arm Band, Jimmy Barnes, Tilman Robinson and Xani Kolac. Instrumental credits include: ArtsWA Young Artists Creative Fellowship and two-time WAMI Best Female Instrumentalist. Theatre scores include: Ghost Child (Steamworks 2012), Cinderella Dressed In Yella, Colourwheel and RabbiT (Buzz Dance Theatre). Melanie is also known for her solo performances and has released two albums of her own music: After The Storm and Empty Places. “A heart-stopper” (Sydney Morning Herald) with “a voice that will make your black heart beat again” (Adelaide Now).
KRISTIE SMITH / LIGHTING DESIGNER Kristie Smith graduated from the West Australian Academy of Performing Arts with a Bachelor of Performing Arts majoring in Lighting Design in 2017. Some of her most recent works include the lighting design for Playthings (Black Swan and The Blue Room Theatre), WA Ballet’s 2021 season of Genesis, Beanstalk (Spare Parts Puppet Theatre) written by Sam Longley, In Case of Emergency (Hayman Theatre Co.) written and directed by Jeffrey Jay Fowler, Medusa (Renegade Productions x Bow & Dagger) directed by Joe Lui and stage manager/ operator/collaborator for The Last Great Hunt’s Helpmann Award nominated production Lé Nør [the rain] for Perth Festival 2019.
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EVERY BRILLIANT THING
CREW
HUGO AGUILAR LÓPEZ / STAGE MANAGER Hugo has worked on regional and national tours, festivals, concerts, performance art, contemporary dance, plays, operas, and musicals. For Black Swan he has stage managed: Oklahoma!, The Torrents, Assassins, The Lighthouse Girl (incl. WA Regional Tour), A Perfect Specimen, Next to Normal, Extinction, The House on The Lake, Twelfth Night and The Shape of Things. He has worked for STC, Orana Productions, Perth Festival, Perth Theatre Company, The Workshop Productions, WA Opera, Lost and Found Opera, Shakespeare WA, Side Pony Productions, WAYTCo, Perth Theatre Company, Great Big Events, PICA, Perth Symphony Orchestra, Fourth Wall, WASO and The Kabuki Drop. Training: WAAPA BA of Performing Arts, CERT IV in Training & Assessment, Trainer and Assessor upgrade and AD. Dip. in Stage Management.
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EVERY BRILLIANT THING
RESOURCES CONNECTION AND WELLBEING AUSTRALIA (CAWA) Want to learn how to create safe and inclusive spaces? Contact CAWA for: • Suicide prevention training • Mental health and wellbeing • Diversity and inclusive practice workshops For online and/or face-to-face workshops available at connectionandwellbeing.com.au
LIFELINE
131 11 14 24/7 phone counselling, an online crisis support chat available each evening.
BEYOND BLUE
1300 22 4636 Providing information about, and support for, depression, anxiety and suicide prevention to a broad range of people with differing needs, wherever they live, wherever they need it 24/7.
ADSL (ALCOHOL & DRUG SUPPORT LINE)
(08) 9442 5000 (metro callers) 1800 198 024 (country callers) ADSL is a confidential, non-judgemental telephone counselling, information and referral service for anyone seeking help for their own or another person’s alcohol or drug abuse.
MOORDITJ YARNING
1300 364 277 First Nations Mob Peer Support.
DISCHARGED
discharged.com.au Non-clinical peer support for people with thoughts of suicide.
HEADSPACE
headspace.org.au A National Youth Mental Health Foundation for 12 to 15 year olds.
1800 RESPECT
1800 737 732 24/7 phone & online counselling for people seeking help for domestic violence situations.
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Proud to be the Principal Partner of Black Swan State Theatre Company of WA
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