The Little Big Things: The Inspirational Memoir of the Year

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The cast also includes Jordan Benjamin (Dom), Rebecca Bowden (Surgeon), Jamie Chatterton (Tom), Tom Oliver (Marco), Malinda Parris (Dr Graham), Cleve September (Will) and Amy Trigg (Agnes) with Stephen John Davis, Elena Pitsiaeli, George Salmon, Amy West and Joseph Wolff. Fraser has been involved in the development of The Little Big Things to ensure accuracy and innovation are brought to the stage. Soho Place continues to push boundaries and champion representation and access in many of its production, following an acclaimed first year of plays that included Marvellous, which featured a neurodivergent company of actors as Neil Baldwin; and Shakespeare’s As You Like It, which integrated British Sign Language and surtitles throughout the production. Usually after we come out of a show and on the train heading home, I’ll chat about the staging, lighting, highlights of the performance, that kind of thing. Triumph, however, is no mean feat. Among stories of disability, there is no shortage of trauma and hardship, and The Little Big Things makes a convincing case instead for the power of gumption, gladness and gusto. This is most movingly expressed deep in Act 2, when the uninjured Fraser tells his older, disabled self: “I can’t wait to become you.” Colin Richmond’s set design is largely empty, with atmospheric waves of colour (video design by Luke Halls and lighting by Howard Hudson). Characters bring on some scenery and it is very inventive, but set oddly against big West End stagecraft – platforms juggeringly raised, aerial work in which Henry swings mid-air in his wheelchair – that doesn’t quite unify with the makeshift minimalism.

Less successful, lead doctor Malinda Parris as Dr Graham is lumbered with an outrageously political lyric which does not really hold up to much scrutiny. Still, Parris does her best – in every sense – within the context.You would have to have a heart of stone not to find Henry's story deeply moving. Bring tissues" - Daily Mail Doesn’t quite unify … Ed Larkin (left) and Jonny Amies as Henry Fraser in The Little Big Things. Photograph: Pamela Raith

The Little BIG Things is, without any hint of hyperbole, the single best management book I've ever read." Warren Bennis

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