Every Brilliant Thing with Minnie Driver @sohoplace theatre

Last Updated on January 9, 2026

Minnie Driver Brings Warmth to Every Brilliant Thing

There’s a lovely intimacy to Every Brilliant Thing at @sohoplace, a play that’s as much about the performer as it is about the story. The West End season has seen a star-studded rotating cast including Lenny Henry, Jonny Donahoe, Ambika Mod and Sue Perkins, each bringing their own flavour to Duncan Macmillan and Jonny Donahoe’s one-person tour de force. Minnie Driver closes the run, lighting up the stage with her warmth, humour and natural charm, guiding the audience through a heartfelt, funny and quietly moving meditation on mental health and life’s small, brilliant pleasures.

First seen at the Edinburgh Fringe with Paines Plough back in 2014, Every Brilliant Thing has since travelled the world, played in more than 80 countries and even been turned into a hit HBO film. Now making its West End debut, the production keeps things beautifully simple, letting the story and performer take centre stage. Co-directed by Duncan Macmillan and Jeremy Herrin, it creates a warm, inviting space that feels lived in rather than theatrical, while Jack Knowles’ lighting and Tom Gibbons’ sound design gently shift with the play’s changing moods.

Set in the round, the audience spends the first 15 minutes seated, listening to a funky, feel-good soundtrack that builds a buzz of anticipation and a slight sense of uncertainty about what’s to come. Is the show running late, or is this all part of it? Minnie Driver, probably best known for Good Will Hunting, cuts a striking figure in Vicki Mortimer’s expressive yet straightforward costume, a crisp white shirt and black trousers. She moves easily among the crowd, sitting down for a chat here, handing out cards there, instantly breaking the ice. It’s a relaxed, disarming start that dissolves the line between performer and audience. Little did I know that audience participation would soon become one of the show’s greatest joys.

It all starts with a seven-year-old trying to cheer up her mum. “Mum’s done something stupid,” her dad says, leaving the child to face the unimaginable idea that her mother does not want to be alive. So, she starts a list of everything brilliant in the world, and this quickly becomes the audience’s job too. As Minnie calls out numbers, people read from their cards: ice cream, staying up past bedtime, the smell of old books. Not every moment of participation goes smoothly, but that is part of the charm. One man is brought up on stage to play the vet who must put down her dog, Sherlock Bones. He is tender but nervous, laughing in a way that makes the moment even more human. The list grows as the narrator does, charting a lifetime of small joys, heartbreaks and absurdities.

As the child grows up, affection curdles into frustration, and teenage years bring the realisation that love and resentment can co-exist. University is not much easier. She is quiet, withdrawn, hiding behind her books until she meets her first love in the library, cue another brave audience member stepping in as Sam. For a while, everything feels possible. But back home, the family’s picture-perfect act starts to crack and old ghosts return. Driver moves between these stages of life with remarkable ease, capturing the awkwardness of adolescence and the weight of adult reflection in a single breath. The result is funny, tender and quietly devastating, a reminder that life’s brilliance is stitched together from the smallest, simplest moments.

Catch it while you can. Minnie is an absolute joy, and the audience participation ensures that each performance feels fresh and unpredictable. Every Brilliant Thing is a beautifully simple production, full of empathy, humour and human connection.

@sohoplace theatre,  4 Soho Place, London, W1D 3BG

Every Brilliant Thing runs from Tuesday 21st October until 8 November