David Jeffrey as Thom Pain. Image supplied by Sydney Independent Theatre Company.
You know that feeling when words just tumble out of your mouth, without any pre-meditated thought? Kinda like when you’re drunk. Or haven’t eaten all day. Or maybe you’ve sucked down some laughing gas and are still trying to hold a conversation. No, wait, that would imply that you were mainly happy. Some of that, but with a dollop of pissed-off confusion, and non-sensical inablility to articluate your feelings.
Well anyhow, in Thom Pain (based on nothing), Thom Pain seems to be in some sort of state like the above. Or at least, the actor David Jeffrey personifies him that way. Or is it originally Will Eno, the playwright, who has this jumbled state of mind and somehow spews it out through some crazed stream-of-consciousness on to paper and up onto a stage?
Maybe it’s all irrelevant. Who knows. But the end result, last week at the Old Fitzroy, is the Pulitzer-prize-nominated script full of trip wires which time and again manages to send the unsuspecting audience tumbling past their softly bigoted perceptions of cliché face first into a flood of clever quips, unexpected one liners, and frankly, a continuous bunch of giggles and guffaws.
Sole actor David Jeffrey takes Eno’s delicious script and presents it with the zest of a crackpot man-child. Thom Pain is at face value a somewhat unlovable character, but Jeffrey transforms insults into endearment; no matter how many times he tells us to f**k off or yells c**nt, he has the theatre in stitches, and some front-rowers probably wanting to pee their pants after being singled out.
Believe it or not, there’s a coming-of-age storyline deeply buried among all the witty confusion that is this show. As you can probably tell, it’s pretty hard to describe coherently. But here’s one thing: it’s a cracker of a show, especially when it’s cheap as chips and inside a pub where you can grab a meal before hand. And another: Jeffrey is exquisite, bursting with life—even when Pain is down and out—and somehow makes a man in a suit all alone with a book and a chair the most riveting hour you’ve seen in a long time.
Thom Pain (based on nothing) is light, whimsical, and hysterically funny in a heads-in-the-clouds manner; but it’s very solidly something. In truth, it’s probably based on so many things that the playwright decided to jostle them all in to his script, to the point of implosion.
Your expectations- base those on nothing- that’s your best shot. Waltz in and let Jeffrey do his work. Maybe afterwards you can come to a conclusion, and you can base it on whatever snippets of the madness you can catch! Godspeed, and have fun!
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars.
Thom Pain (based on nothing)
By Will Eno
Sydney Independent Theatre Company
Directed by Julie Baz
Featuring David Jeffrey
Set and Lighting Designer David Jeffrey
Costume and Sound Designer Julie Baz
Stage Manager Kyle Stephens
Photography by Katy Green Loughrey
The Old Fitzroy Theatre, Darling St, Woolloomooloo
www.sitco.net.au
5 – 10 May
