This one-person, interactive comedy-drama originates in the playwright-co-director Duncan Macmillan (with Jonny Donahoe) and co-direction also by Jeremy Herrin. The West End London production sees a rotating cast of Lenny Henry, Jonny Donahoe, Ambika Mod, Sue Perkins, and Minnie Driver (performing in turn across the season).
A young child, burdened by a mother’s deep despair, begins compiling a numbered list of every trivial delight that might coax her back from the edge. Early in the play, you glimpse the boy scribbling ice-cream and hedgehogs with wide-eyed urgency; later, you see him pause mid-sentence as a strange but joyful memory tugs his voice off script.. Scenes drift between childhood and adulthood as the narrator slides through life’s small mercies.
Lenny Henry, as playful as a cheeky teacher, treats the audience like giggling pupils. He hovers, jests, and nudges responses, occasionally steering the evening toward stand-up territory. When he softens, though, when he lets the heartbreak slip through his grin, the list stops feeling like a gimmick and becomes a lifeline.
The writing aims for something hopeful and direct. It tries to say that even the smallest joys can matter when everything else feels too heavy. Sometimes it lands, that moment when the room holds its breath on a single item on the list, you feel the edges of grief and relief blur. Yet at other times, it feels too neat, circling round clichés, some items feel dusty from repetition. The play mostly avoids sensationalism, though occasionally it treads thin ground when sketching suicide or mental health in sweeping strokes.
You’ll like this if you welcome gentleness and quiet insistence. If you’re open to being called by name, metaphorically or literally, you may find that one small moment worms its way into you and stays. You might not like it if you expect depth in every sentence; if shimmer feels like gloss rather than glow, the piece may feel under-crafted.
At the end, the list isn’t the point. You are. And even when it feels too tidy, that gesture still matters.