You're 7 years old, your mum is in hospital, and all your dad will say about it is that "she’s done something stupid because she finds it hard to be happy".
So you start a list of everything that is brilliant about the world — everything worth living for — and you leave it on her pillow.
You know she’s read it, because she’s corrected your spelling.
It is the central theme of critically acclaimed play Every Brilliant Thing by Duncan Macmillan (with Jonny Donahoe), which will run from September 10-21 at Dunedin North Intermediate (except September 16, when it will be held at Waitati Hall).
It has been described as "heart-wrenching" as well as "one of the funniest plays about depression you’ll see".
The one-person play is being put on by Birds of a Feather Theatre Company, and features Dunedin comedians Harriet Moir and Gregory Cooper performing in rotation throughout the season.
Director Lara Macgregor said the play was "truly special" in that it was part script, part improvisation, and a whole lot of shared experience.
"Opening on World Suicide Prevention Day [September 10], Every Brilliant Thing doesn’t shy away from talking about depression in the most funny, uplifting, and deeply human way.
"I cannot wait to laugh and cry, and cry with laughter, alongside our Dunedin audiences."
Rather than performing on stage, she said the actor would perform in the middle of the Dunedin Intermediate School hall and be surrounded by the audience, with nothing more than a chair, a rug, some cushions and blankets, and a couple of lamps to set the "living room" scene.
"So basically, the audience are encircling the actor and it’s really a simple engagement between the actor and the audience.
"It will be very intimate."
The 75-minute play is an adaptation of Macmillan’s short story Sleeve Notes.
He, Donahoe and George Perrin collaborated for more than a decade to turn it into a full-length play and during that time, it went through several incarnations.
The critically acclaimed play has become a global phenomenon after being performed in more than 80 countries.
It is the second production put on in Dunedin by Birds of a Feather.
Late last year, Macgregor directed Prima Facie by Suzie Miller — a one-woman play which follows a criminal defence lawyer at the top of her game, until a life-shattering event places her on the other side of the bench.
It was met with "very warm applause" acknowledging both the production’s "exceptional quality and the bravery needed to bring such a disturbing play to the stage".
It was Macgregor’s first solo-produced and directed production since stepping down as Fortune Theatre artistic director in 2015.
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