Thom Pain (based on nothing) | |
Review
by Willard Manus THOM PAIN (based on nothing) is exactly the kind of play one hopes to see at a Fringe Festival. Its offbeat, strange and unsettling, yet brilliantly original and compelling as well. The solo drama comes to the Hollywood Fringe with a distinguished pedigree. It was first produced in 2004 at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, then it moved to a London theatre. A year later it transferred to the DR 2 Theatre, New York, where it became a Pulitzer finalist. In 2016 the Geffen Playhouse mounted its own production of the play. Now, six years later, THOM PAIN returns to L.A. with Johnny Patrick Yoder delivering the cryptic monologue written by Will Eno and directed by Bryan Keith. A mixture
of stream of consciousness, stand-up comedy, shaggy-dog story and poetic
discourse, the monologue is delivered by Yoder as he stands on a bare
stage staring sardonically at the audience. With no intro, he launches
into his long rant with its echoes of Beckett and Ionesco. |