Review: Will Eno's THOM PAIN (BASED ON NOTHING) Is Presented For A Socially Distanced Audience In A Live Performance Streamed Online.

Monday 29th June 2020, 7:30pm Australian Eastern Standard Time

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Red Line Productions latest theatre in isolation sees the multi award-winning Toby Schmitz return to the Old Fitz Theatre stage in Will Eno's THOM PAIN ( BASED ON NOTHING). Broadcast over the internet with the aid of screen content creators Tribal Apes' 9 camera technology home audiences are treated to completely live performance at a time when theatres globally remain closed.

First seen in 2004 where it won the an Edinburgh Festival Fringe award in 2004 and later received a Drama Desk Award and Pulitzer Prize nomination, THOM PAIN (BASED ON NOTHING) is a 55 minute monologue from a rambling man trying to share stories of life, love, loss and loneliness whilst his short attention span wanders with the agility of a dog chasing leaves. There is pain, humor, and the sense of the unsettling intimacy of getting stuck listening to an unloading stranger in a pub or a park bench whilst also feeling like an observer listening to an unhinged professor in a lecture hall.

The work, co-directed by Andrew Henry and Toby Schmitz, is presented to an empty theatre, save for designer Trent Suidgeest tucked away in the shadows on technical controls. This allows the 9 cameras to be positioned to allow Schmitz to deliver the performance as if it were in-the-round but while a live audience would each experience the story from a different view point, the at home viewer remains as Pain's sole focus adding to the intensity of the work as he delivers down the camera lens. Schmitz is costumed in a simple black suit and tie and retro black plastic framed glasses transforming him into an 'every man' that would normally disappear into the masses whilst Schmitz' expression ensures that Pain still has that air of someone who just teeters on the safe side of questionable and is that sort of person that you'd politely listen to, all the while wondering why you hadn't moved seats earlier as you are taken into the rabbit hole of wandering his mind.

THOM PAIN (BASED ON NOTHING) is another amazing performance from Toby Schmitz as he handles an absent audience as if he were working with a full theatre. Once you suspend any desire to find a plot line during the performance and accept that you'll need to put the pieces together later, the 'beauty' of this work comes through. The only missing part of this is the opportunity for post-show discussion and digest in the theatre but hopefully we will get to do that again soon.

FACEBOOK PAGE OR YOUTUBE CHANNEL

https://www.redlineproductions.com.au/thom-pain-based-on-nothing-by-will-eno

Streaming times (Watch any performance on any day):
Sydney, Australia - Mon 29 June 2020 - Fri 3 July at 7:30pm AEST
Berlin, Germany - Mon 29 June 2020 - Fri 3 July at 11:30am CEST
London, UK - Mon 29 June 2020 - Fri 3 July at 10:30am BST
*Please adjust times for other countries/regions*

OR ALTERNATIVELY

Sydney, Australia - Saturday 4 July at 11.30am, AEST
New York, USA - Fri, 3 July 2020 at 9:30pm EDT
*Please adjust times for other countries/regions*