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QTP’s uplifting play Every Brilliant Thing set for its first digital showcase with Paytm Insider
NEW DELHI: Over the years, mental health and wellness have been the subject of various arts from books, art, cinema to theatre. Today when mental health issues have been thrown into sharper relief than ever before, these stories are taking center stage. For its first play under Paytm Insider’s recently announced theatre initiative, Front & Centre, the platform is bringing one such fascinating and heart-wrenching story – ‘Every Brilliant Thing’, produced by QTP, directed by Quasar Thakore Padamsee and performed by Vivek Madan.
Front & Centre, which reimagines theatre in digital formats, is presenting the play’s very first digital edition, bringing this treasured work of art online. Every Brilliant Thing will premiere online on July 18th. Tickets priced at Rs. 400 are available on Paytm Insider.
Other than its poignant subject-matter, what sets this production of Every Brilliant Thing apart is its live participative format where the audience is invited to interact with each other and the performer to take the story forward. Since the play contains sensitive and potentially triggering material, it is available only for audiences above the age of 18. At its heart, Every Brilliant Thing aims to start conversations about mental health issues. This showcase will be followed by a 20 minutes opportunity for audiences to ask questions, share observations or start a dialogue with professionals working in the field of mental health care, who will also be present during the live stream.
Every Brilliant Thing is an uplifting story about love, life, family, mental health, and a much-required list of all the wonderful things in the world. It encourages the viewers to celebrate the joy found in everyday objects. The play is written by Johnny Donahoe and by Duncan Macmillan, an award-winning writer and theatre director. Duncan Macmillan’s previous works also cover contemporary socio-political issues and include productions such as People, Places and Things, and 2071.
Every Brilliant Thing’s online performance is produced by prominent theatre and arts management company QTP. Known for creating unique and engaging experiences for live audiences, the theatre company is the one behind the critically acclaimed plays So Many Socks, The President is Coming, Khatijabai of Karmali Terrace, A Peasant of El Salvador, and The God of Carnage in India, and has spearheaded international collaborations such as Nirbhaya, Gates to India Song, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Speaking on the launch, Paytm Insider's Business head, Live entertainment (IPs & Partnerships)- Varun Khare at , said, “It is our honour to showcase a production as moving and relevant as Every Brilliant Thing on Paytm Insider. Creating a digital rendition of a work of art that is meant to be delivered live is an exciting challenge. We look forward to witnessing the magic that QTP, Quasar, and Vivek create on the screen, and to have this be the start for plays performed under Front & Centre.
Every Brilliant Thing director Quasar Thakore Padamsee said, “Every Brilliant Thing was designed to be a communal experience that brings the live performer and live audience to a shared space and encourages positive interaction between the two. As plays go online during this lockdown, however, we cannot simply call it online theatre. It is an entirely new medium, one that requires cumulative efforts of everyone executing the play to create an immersive experience that evokes that familiar sense of community, even though we’re all isolated with our devices. It is, thus, not just a digital rendition but a recreation or a reinvention of the play we know so well. Needless to say, it’s a new challenge altogether, and we’re more than exuberant to face it head-on!”
Vivek Madan, lead cast, Every Brilliant Thing, said, “The play is an insight or a window into a person’s life. Although it deals with sensitive topics, it is fun, even funny at times, and, most of all, scarily relatable. It is completely real and there is no artifice. I am simply sharing a story with the audience that I’m grateful that people are around to listen to.”
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UK’s OnlyFans seeks US investor at $3bn valuation after owner’s death
The adult video platform is seeking stability after the death of its billionaire owner
LONDON: OnlyFans is looking for a new partner. The London-based adult video platform is in advanced talks to sell a minority stake of less than 20 per cent to Architect Capital, a San Francisco-based investment firm, in a deal that would value the business at more than $3bn (£2.2bn).
The move is driven by an urgent need for stability. Leonid Radvinsky, the Ukrainian-American billionaire who owned OnlyFans, died of cancer last month at the age of 43, leaving the future of one of Britain’s most profitable privately held businesses suddenly uncertain.
The choice of Architect Capital is not arbitrary. The firm has deep expertise in financial services, which aligns neatly with OnlyFans’ ambitions to offer banking products to its creators, many of whom have long struggled to access basic financial services because of the nature of their work.
The numbers behind OnlyFans are, by any measure, staggering. The platform posted revenues of $1.4bn in the year to 30th November 2024, with a pre-tax profit of $684m, up four per cent on the prior year. Payments to creators totalled $7.2bn over the same period, a rise of nearly ten per cent. Radvinsky personally collected $701m in dividends from the business in 2024 alone, on top of more than $1bn in such payments he had already received. The platform, run through its parent company Felix International, hosts 4.6m creator accounts, with performers keeping 80 per cent of subscription proceeds and the platform pocketing the remaining 20 per cent. It has 377m fan accounts in total.
The current minority stake talks represent a notable scaling back of ambitions. In January, OnlyFans was reported to be in discussions with Architect about selling a majority stake of 60 per cent. Before that, the company had explored a sale to a consortium led by Forest Road Company, a Los Angeles-based investment firm. Neither deal materialised.
OnlyFans has built an enormously lucrative business on content that mainstream finance has long refused to touch. Now, with its owner gone and a $3bn valuation on the table, it is looking for the kind of respectable institutional backing that might finally persuade the banks to take its calls.
