Off-Central show explores life’s ‘brilliant’ side

The narrator in Every Brilliant Thing, opening Thursday at the Off-Central in St. Petersburg, is dealing with some of life’s most emotionally shattering realities. “Things get better,” he says optimistically at one point. “They don’t always get brilliant, but they get better.”

The sole actor onstage begins the play as a 7-year-old boy whose chronically depressed mother is in the hospital following what he describes as “her first” suicide attempt.

Written by Duncan Macmillan with Johnny Donahoe, Every Brilliant Thing is framed by the boy’s carefully composed list of things worth living for. He begins making the list during Mom’s initial hospital stay, and continues it well into adulthood.

She never discussed it with him, but he knows she read it. She corrected his spelling.

Dylan Barlowe is playing The Narrator, as he’s called in the script. Every Brilliant Thing, since its debut in Great Britain a decade ago, has opened the doors of communication on the subjects of depression, mental illness and suicide.

“This play allows you to say ‘Hey, I can be sad, but I can smile at the same time,’” explain Barlowe, who grew up in Seminole and graduated from the Pinellas County Center for the Arts.

“And I think that’s what’s beautiful. If it was a one-hour play centered on suicide prevention and it was just heavy and it weighed down, I don’t think it would be as impactful of a show. This one goes ‘It’s OK to laugh, and it’s OK to be uncomfortable for a moment.’

“I won’t make anybody feel so uncomfortable that they need to get up and leave the room. It’s OK to have that belly laugh and it’s OK to cry at times.”

Donahoe had the starring role when Every Brilliant Thing arrived in the United States. “Everything about (the show) is designed to put us at ease,” said the New York Times. “In the face of great loss and depression, a real effort of will is required to recall why it’s worth continuing with life. That will is the force that animates Every Brilliant Thing and keeps it afloat for the captivating hour of its duration.”

Before the performance, The Narrator walks amongst the audience, chatting and handing out slips of paper to attendees who agree to participate.

“I find that it really requires you to be fully present and focused,” Barlowe says, “because you are literally dealing with audience members playing characters in the show. And the only way that they are comfortable doing that is if you make them comfortable.”

That, of course, can be a challenge for a performer, particularly one with no other actual cast members to fall back on.

As an actor, writer and director who spent a decade going to school (and working) in Chicago, Barlowe – who also worked at Universal Studios Japan for a year – is well-versed in the art of the onstage pivot. “I was the class clown growing up,” he says. “I was always very easy-to-talk-to, pick up a conversation anywhere I go, and find something that we can relate to. That really comes into play in this show.

“The story’s told as if it’s my story. And it’s not. And I think that’s the most challenging thing for me – it’s a very raw, vulnerable play. What’s thrilling is, I lean on the audience. They help pick me up. So any time I’m down I just call out a number and boom, somebody’s got my back. And we keep it moving.”

Barlowe and director Anthony Gervais introduced Every Brilliant Thing to St. Pete in April, via a limited run at thestudio@620.

Although the seating configuration at the Off-Central doesn’t allow for the show to be performed “in the round,” as it was at 620, this production, Barlowe promises, will be just as interactive.

Every Brilliant Thing will mean different things to different people – audience and actors alike.

“My own father took his life,” Barlowe says. “For a long time, it felt like such a stigma to talk about. 

“I think that it’s a really important message. Any time we can get comfortable getting people talking about mental health and their families, I think that’s worthwhile.”

For information and tickets, visit the website here.