By Bryle B. Suralta
Internationally acclaimed Duncan Macmillan one-character play Every Brilliant Thing arrived in Manila with one purpose: to spark the conversation about mental health in the Philippines.
Every Brilliant Thing tells a story from the perspective of a woman, whose mother made several attempts in taking her own life. The woman, played by Teresa Herrera, creates a list, which she considers things that are “worth living for.” Whether it’s piglets, the smell of breakfast in the morning or the sound of her favorite records, the “brilliant” things she lists down are vehicles for her to cope with her lowest points.
The story starts of with a car ride to the hospital with the woman’ s father. This is when she first learned of suicidal ideation. And as she goes into her adolescence and subsequent adulthood, experiencing debilitating events and challenging times, she finds herself grasping for answers, or rather reasons, to keep existing.
Teresa Herrera knew it was a complex role that she had to study, and that’s why she wanted to create the character “from the inside out.”
“My aim is to represent this character as authentically and a vulnerable as possible,” shares Teresa. “I really had to build specific relationships to people, objects, events, anything that came to my mind, had a memory and interaction.”
Created in partnership with Mental Health PH, Silakbo PH and Fringe Festival Manila 2019, this Sandbox Collective—and 9 Works—stage play tackles depression and suicide in its purest form. The primary draw of this play isn’t that it is a Duncan Macmillan work or because of its star Teresa, or director Jenny Jamora, but its ability to have this frank yet comical approach to telling a seemingly bleak tale. It didn’t take itself too seriously nor take the topic too lightly. After all, the harsh reality of mental health disorders and its ripple effects are not something easy to explain.
With key audience participation, which calls on the audience to play certain characters in the life of its muse, and heavy monologues, the play transforms into an open, honest pseudo-discussion hidden behind the storyline.
The act also comes with a post-show talkback session wherein the Sandbox Collective invites several mental health experts to have a dialogue with the audience.
Every Brilliant Thing has been staged in locations across the UK, Ireland, USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, France and South Korea. It even filmed for an HBO documentary in 2016. The elements of the play have always been changed, depending on the culture of the respective countries.
According to the team behind Every Brilliant Thing, the talkback session was designed to encourage more people to join support groups, call suicide hotlines, ask for mental health consultations and be more aware of the various coping mechanisms to raise awareness in a country where mental health is still clouded by stigma.
“The fact that we don’t talk about it (the most Filipino element of the play),” Teresa claims. “Nobody explained anything to her (the woman), no one explained when dad took her to the hospital, it wasn’t until she was older when she put everything together herself. ” She (the woman) kept saying, ‘I don’t understand that.’
Director Jenny Jamora adds: “I think it will add to the already-growing volume of conversation about mental wellness. We need to stop losing lives. We hope to make the conversation louder but also more loving.”
It was only last year when the landmark Mental Health Law or Republic Act 11036, which provides affordable and accessible mental health services to Filipinos, was signed.
The play sends a message—a message that tells us to elevate the conversation. Because, even if we’ve come this far for proper mental health awareness, we, as a society, still have a long way to go.
