Every Brilliant Thing performed at the Pattaya City Expats Club

By Pattaya Mail

August 6, 2023

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Mark Llwyd provides an impressive and passionate performance of his one man play “Every Brilliant Thing” for the PCEC.

Pattaya, Thailand – Rather than the usual guest speaker, there was something different at the Wednesday, August 2, meeting of the Pattaya City Expats Club (PCEC). Mark Llwyd performed his 75-minute one-man play for the PCEC. Mark has previously provided several successful performances of “Every Brilliant Thing” in the UK, Singapore, and Thailand.

The play is heart wrenching and humorous story about how a seven-year-old boy starts a list of a few brilliant things to give to his mother to cheer her up. She was in the hospital and it was a time of crisis which the audience soon learns involves depression and attempts at suicide. The story progresses as Mark narrates the boy’s life as he grows older, attends university, marries, and continues with his career.

In his one man play “Every Brilliant Thing,” Mark Llwyd includes participation from his audience. Here he calls on a lady to be the veterinary nurse that makes the injection to put his pet to “sleep.”

So, initially, the play is about a 7-year-old boy who starts the list because he wants to make his mother happy. But as he grows older and resurrects the list, it evolves into a life of its own. As the boy’s life continues, the list is set aside and found again several times, often in time of crisis in his own life which also included depression and thoughts of suicide. Although the list eventually reaches a million “brilliant things”, the play has only a sampling of the items on the list interspersed throughout.

Prior to starting his performance, Mark handed out cards with a preprinted number to members of the audience. During the play, he would call out one of the numbers on the card and the audience member responded by reading out the “brilliant thing” contained on the card. This was not the only interaction with the audience as Mark called on others to act as other persons involved in the boy’s story and life including his dad, his girl, and a school counselor.

Appearing more than once, this gentleman from the audience was called on to enact the role of the “Dad” to Mark Llwyd’s young boy. Later in a reversal of roles, to be the young boy and respond to Mark, now the Dad, with the question “why” when after each attempt to explain things about the boy’s mother’s illness. Finally, as the “Dad” again to make a speech at the now young man’s wedding.

It was a very appreciative audience that gave an enthusiastic ovation at the conclusion of Mark’s performance. Mark prior exiting the stage mentioned that there were blank cards available on the audience’s tables. He requested that audience members use them to list their own “brilliant things a person should live for” on the card(s) and return them so he might include them in future performance of his play.

After the performance, Mark was interviewed about his one man play. He said that one of the things that make the play so successful is it involving the audience. He became involved with this play because he prefers to do shows that have some kind of social issue interwoven into the theme. In “Every Brilliant Thing, it is about finding the moments of joy amid times of sorrow with the message there is always a hope for something better. Mark mentioned his company that is producing the play, noting he has bookings for school performances in Thailand during September and in Cambodia during October. Visit their Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/Odysseytheatrecompany. The video of the intereview is available on the PCEC’s YouTube Channel at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63Wtqptlx3A.

MC Ren Lexander presents the Pattaya City Expats Club’s Certificate of Appreciation to Mark Llwyd for his “brilliant” performance in the one man play “Every Brilliant Thing.”

The meeting was concluded with George Wilson conducting the Open Forum where the audience can ask questions or make comments about Expat living in Thailand, especially Pattaya. To learn more about the PCEC, visit their website at https:/pcec.club.