Everybody - Branden Jacobs-Jenkins
National Theatre Drama School
Director: Emily O’Brien-Brown
Cast: Archana Sivanandakuma, Tarquinn O’Toole, Daniel Chrisholm, Jacqueline Forrester, Jake Mazzone, Madi Edwards, Elise Hatton, Thomas Minchinton, Jamie Clegg, Siem Putland, Thomas Purcell
Sound Design: Christian Biko
Set Design: Emily O’Brien-Brown
Costume Design: Jaime Dorner and Emily O’Brien-Brown
Lighting Design: Max Woods
Movement Director: Vincent Crowley and Jaime Dorner
Everybody is a modern riff on the 15th-century morality play Everyman, intellectually daring, wildly funny, and deeply moving. When Death shows up unannounced, Everybody must embark on a surreal, soul-searching journey through life’s biggest questions.
Directing this production, I aimed to create a space for ritual and incantation, cultivating a sense that archetypes were visiting the audience and waking us up before it was too late. With irreverence, chaos, and unshakable heart, the ensemble held humour and existential weight side by side, transforming a medieval allegory into an arresting contemporary theatrical experience.
