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drinks Monday 4 August 08
Thom Pain (based on nothing)
Verdict: Complex map of the soul
Edinburgh 04 - Pleasance Upstairs - 15:00 (approx 60 mins)
Thom Pain reveals his inner world in a 60-minute monologue.
Handsome actor James Urbaniak has a delightful face, slim body, and walks the stage with elegant movement in a smart loose suit.
There's plenty of time to examine James Urbaniak, because his acting focuses attention solidly for the show's duration, even though what he's saying is often hard to follow. So - there are 3 moles on his face; the accent is mildly American; he wears nerdish horn-topped glasses with hooked ends. All of these may rather belong to Thom Pain. The script is so intimate and confessional, that it becomes hard to distinguish actor from character.
Thom Pain speaks his thoughts, recalling the electrocution of a cat when Thom Pain was a lad; a lost love affair; a raffle that may not happen. The script has some resemblance in its form to the tumbling thought-strands of James Joyce's Ulysses, and the novels of William Burroughs.
But Thom Pain is written in extremely exact English. It's as if stream-of-conciousness has been meticulously edited and polished. The thoughts remain those of another person, and therefore generally unintelligible. No-one knows the context of someone else's mind, so eavesdropping on its thought-processes doesn't always yield clarity.
The young boy in his cowboy suit, the electrocuted bitch, an imaginary pink elephant are visited and re-visited. And the raffle. 'There is no raffle. The good news is - you didn't lose.' How is life to be lived? 'What if you only had a day left of your life? What if you only had 40 years?'.
Thom Pain is Soho Theatre Company's Edinburgh 04 production, transferring to the Soho Theatre in September 04. Soho Theatre has become a centre of excellence for drama writing, production, theatre, comedy - and therefore has a lot of reputation riding on Thom Pain. How will this, its central production for the year, be perceived?
Thom Pain will undoubtedly divide audiences. Some may find it profound and full of insight into the human condition. Some may find it unintelligible, and therefore good theatre. Some, like one paying member of today's audience remarking to her companion at the end will judge it 'pretentious drivel'. It's a strong piece, there will be opinions. Thom Pain remarks: 'Please don't say you were out watching someone being clever'.
The play partly borrows the format of stand-up. There's a lot of stand-up at Edinburgh 04. In its expert form, stand-up is scripted round jokes. A laugh or audible response every 10 seconds, or 3 per page of script, is the BBC's radio comedy guideline.
No matter how intellectual (Andy Zaltzman), clever (Lucy Porter, Jimmy Carr), apparently stream-of-conciousness (Robin Ince), a stand-up may seem, the act is structured round laughter. It's extremely hard work, both in the writing and performance.
With so much of the expert real thing around in adjoining stages at Edinburgh, it's difficult for a drama using only the form of stand-up to pull it off.
A stand-up is essentially a character, and expert character comedy (Justin Edwards as Jeremy Lion, Waen Shepherd as Gary Le Strange, Gareth Tunley as Sven Stacy, Steve Jameson as Sol Bernstein) is also freely on tap nearby - both in Edinburgh and London.
So Thom Pain's complex map of the soul is taking on a mountain if it's to be read as an analogy or antithesis to stand-up or character comedy - both of whose forms it suggests.
But there's one thing not in doubt about Thom Pain - the sheer and breathtaking elegance of its English. There's not a cliché in Will Eno's script, the words sparkle. James Urbaniak brings a mesmeric quality to a performance loaded with charisma. Hal Brooks brings an impish élan to the direction. There's no doubt too that Thom Pain will be talked about, dissected, liked and hated. And for a piece of drama, that's a coup.
Cast Credits (alpha order): Performed by James Urbaniak.
Company Credits: Writer - Will Eno. Director - Hal Brooks. Design Consultant - David Korins. Lighting Designer - Christoph Wagner. Press: Louise Chantal (Edinburgh), Nancy Poole (London). Producer: Soho Theatre Company, Chantal Arts + Theatre, Naked Angels (NYC).
END
John Park
reviewed Thursday 12 August 04 / The Pleasance
Fringe Report (c) Fringe Report 2002-2008
