All das Schöne

In the organizer's words:

How do you react as a child to your mother's suicide attempt? You write her a list of everything that is nice about the world: 1. ice cream, 2. water fights, 3. being allowed to stay up later than usual and watching TV. Intuitively, it's all about the little things that make life worth living. But will the mother really read the list? And what happens when you realize that depression doesn't just go away? The list gets longer and longer the older the child gets: 4997 gifts that you wished for without saying so. Finally, the child grows up, goes to university, falls in love, experiences another suicide attempt by the mother - and the list approaches the million mark: 999,998. Inappropriate songs in emotional moments. All the beauty in the world - can you even grasp it?

Duncan Macmillan has written a life-affirming monologue on a deadly serious subject. By involving the audience in the search for all that wonderful moments can mean, Macmillan creates a space for perhaps the most beautiful thing of all - shared happiness.