2019 — Brussels Premiere · Festival Award Winner
by Duncan Macmillan — interactive monologue in two languages
About the show
ΑΛΜΑ presented for the first time in Brussels the interactive monologue of Duncan Macmillan "Every Brilliant Thing" in two languages — in English with Corina Hamilton-Fowle and in Greek with Vicky Karkani.
A human, touching, bittersweet and life-affirming story, which unfolds with the help of the audience, encouraging each of us to reflect, notice all around us, remember… every brilliant thing that makes our life worth living.
Corina is half-Greek half-South African, who lived most her life in South Africa, Greece, Italy, England, Brussels… and has always struggled to answer the question of where she is from. One thing that was always clear is that she loves acting.
Her first play was at the age of four, where she was supposed to follow someone on stage and copy their movements, so when that character fell asleep she naturally pretended she was asleep for the rest of the play. So much so that the actors thought she was really asleep (!), and carried her backstage in an improvised skit… She was instantly hooked! For the rest of her life she acted in at least one play per year, won prizes in Pan-Hellenic competitions, and went on to study theatre at the University of Kent. There she discovered that the world of acting was big and scary, a very steep ladder she had to climb. As she was always afraid of heights, she moved to Brussels and started a 9-5 job. The bug however never left her and she was lucky enough to join Alma theatre group, where she found a happy medium of following her passion without losing it.
We came across "Every Brilliant Thing" purely by chance and, since we were looking for the next multi-character play for our theatre group to put on, we only read it out of curiosity.
From the first page we felt that we were holding something special in our hands and when we reached the end, there was no doubt: This was a story that deserved to be told, that had to be told! And we knew exactly who were the two brilliant actresses that had to tell it!
What all of us who put together this show did not know then — but discovered along the way — was that a play can have such power that makes you see the world in a different light, in the same way you probably saw it as a kid but have long forgotten… Even more so, when a play with depression and suicide as its central theme brings out in you more love and will for life, then it is clear that the playwright, Duncan Macmillan, has achieved something great.
His goal, in his own words, was to say to people: "You're not alone, you're not weird, you will get through it, and you've just got to hold on."
— Chrysa Baltzaki & Kyprianos Moutevelis
💛 Part of the proceeds of the show were donated to Κλίμακα — social support organisation.
