
Every Brilliant Thing, the play that scooped Best Storytelling Production and Best Male Solo Performance at last year’s Kenya Theatre Awards, is back by public demand. Helmed by Kenya’s own decorated thespian and filmmaker Mugambi Nthiga (Nairobi Half Life, Lusala), the monologue received rave reviews for cleverly delving into the issues of depression and mental health. He talks to Naliaka Wafula about his role and passion for the project
What do you love most about Every Brilliant Thing
When it landed on my table the first time, the director, Julisa Rowe, had just been asked to propose a performance piece to close the Cradle Arts Festival — an art and performance infused event working to raise awareness on mental health. Julisa researched, found this play and reached out to me. I read the script and by the end, ilkuwa machozi tu (I was in tears). The play brings out the topic of mental health in a clever, funny, and touching way. People come and see it, and see themselves in it.
Coincidentally, it also hits very close to home for me. The protagonist and I were roughly the same age when he starts his list of brilliant things to uplift his suicidal mother. He is seven years old and began writing them in 1987. I was the same age in 1987. so a lot of the brilliant things he mentions, I can relate to.
I have also had my mental health struggles, and between 2010-2011, I lived with crippling depression. Back then, the discussion was not being had at all, sharing was seen as an admission of weakness. Going through that period inspired me to tell stories about mental health.

Your performance won you a Best Male Solo Performance last year at the Kenya Theatre Awards, how was the whole experience?
A lot of people seemed to expect it, but I honestly didn’t. I didn’t even want to think about whether my name would be called out or not, because award shows can be very subjective.
I was trembling when it was read out. It validated it for me. The fact that it received that recognition from a judging panel of peers was deeply satisfying, fulfilling, and affirming.
I noticed you dedicated this coming performance to the celebrated actor, the late Charles Ouda, what prompted the gesture?
I got to work with Charles a lot in the past. He was a true professional, our first play together was Luanda Man of Stone in 2003 and my last project with him was the Manic Monologues which saw him win the Best Male Solo Performance award. It was about his time in New York where he attended the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute. He kept being reminded how lucky he was, yet he was going through his own struggles.
Having been his friend, worked with him, experienced his passion for acting, the conversations we had, and knowing he was an advocate for mental health … that wound runs deep for me. I got to grace the stage and collect an award while remembering that just the year before, he was on that stage collecting the same award. My gift to Charles is to dedicate this performance to him.
What do you think is the future of theatre in Kenya?
Theatre is very active and vibrant right now. What gives me the most comfort and joy is that we are putting up our own plays now. Before, it was mostly foreign plays performed as written or ‘Kenyanised’.
This posed a challenge because theatre stories are very much a product of the place they are written. An example is a play where one of the character’s greatest dreams was to be a ‘Canadian Mountie,’ yet no such thing exists here. There is a lot of homegrown talent and work, we are seeing conversations and stories that would have been on Twitter or at the bar now being put up on stage. It’s beautiful.

What would you hope the audience comes away with after watching Every Brilliant Thing?
I hope they come away with a feeling that they are not alone and that the feeling they are going through is a part of the human condition. That they begin to approach themselves with understanding and compassion. Depression is human, a sickness that happens in your brain. I hope they can extend a little bit of ease to themselves or have a conversation about what they or someone they know are going through. Finally, I would also want people just to be highly entertained by what is a good piece of theatre!
A earlier version of this article appeared on TNX.Africa