Customer Reviews

Thom Pain (based on nothing) [Trade Edition]

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A bloody, brilliant, gnawingly humane cry from the gut. It broke my heart and was thought-provoking in the extreme. Eno is clearly gifted and just starting the ascension to the top of his game

Will Eno is certainly one of the most promising American playwrights of his generation, the play Thom Pain has been produced in several countries, has been appointed as the heir of the dramaturgy of Edward Albee and Samuel Beckett by a great number of critics. After the Brazilian production of The Flu Season staged by the Sutil Companhia de Teatro, Eno released to the company the rights of a new text entitled Thom Pain (based on nothing), a play that has been referred to as a mixture of existentialist philosophy and stand-up comedy. This study investigates the textual aspects and the mise en scène of the stage concretization of Thom Pain (based on nothing), taking into account contemporary issues related to postmodern theories. The question of "postdramatic" theatre has been problematized by means of a reflection on the historical, aesthetic and philosophical contexts, providing critical instruments for the analysis. Departing from this theoretical basis, the main postdramatic characteristics of the text and its stage concretization were identified and analyzed. The play can be firmly grounded in the contemporary panorama of postdramatic theatre, not only because of the successful mise en scène, which gives priority to the production of presence and flaunts the artifices that produce dramatic illusion, but also for the use of new strategies such as the stand-up comedy and the energy component in the theatre. The actor who realizes the performance directs the audience to the core of existential questioning when he strips away masks, illusions and all kinds of prejudice. He shows that rational analysis is insufficient to apprehend reality, and appoints fear as a disruptive element in the vital process. After activating a multiplicity of interrogations, the spectators are shaken out of their complacency, when the monologuist, subverting all expectations, announces that life is worthwhile and must be lived with intensity. The conclusion of this study aims to show that Will Eno's innovative integration of existential philosophy and stand-up comedy results in an adequate form to dramatize the ideas he has wished to project, thus contributing to the process of revitalization of contemporary drama.