[NEohioPAL]Berko review: THOM PANE (based on nothing) @ Dobama

[Roy Berko]

‘NOTHING’ is something  at DOBAMA

Roy Berko

(Member, American Theatre Critics Association)

--THE TIMES NEWSPAPERS--

Lorain County Times--Westlaker Times--Lakewood News
Times--Olmsted-Fairview Times	

During the day on Friday, I spent a class period
trying to explain the workings of the human mind to my
Psychology class.  I recounted that the brain is the
product of both heredity and environment.  I shared
that it often goes off on tangents for no presently
identified reason.  I also shared that sometimes,
based on the situation and our mood and motivation,
disorganization of ideas, emotional breakdowns, and
the resulting flow of thoughts can reveal a great deal
about a person.  

Oh how I wish my students had been able to share with
me the opening night performance of Dobama Theatre’s
‘THOM PAIN (based on nothing)’.  My “brilliant”
lecture actually came to life through the talented
one-man performance of Scott Plate as Thom Pain.

Will Eno’s ‘THOM PAIN (based on nothing)’ was a
finalist for the 2005 Pulitzer Prize in Drama.  It has
been called funny, edgy, honest, engaging and raw.  

It’s can’t be defined by traditional terms used for a
theatrical script—drama, comedy, tragedy or farce.  
It defies description.  What it is, is a look at life,
the terror of life, the greatness of mortality, and
the fragility and realities of existence.  It is an
odd and intoxicating affirmation of the value of being
alive, with an underbelly probing into the uselessness
and sometimes joy of being alive.  It has the
qualities of a Sartre and Camus existential probing
into why one lives.  It screams, “Why do we exist?”

The story is told with many stops and starts, pauses
and digressions. The language is sometimes gross and
often poetic.  An ill-fated love affair is explained
away with, “I disappeared in her and she, wondering
where I went, left.” The language often contradicts
itself.  The character is so inconsistent that we
never know whether we should believe anything he says.

Sound weird?  It is.  It’s probably one of the oddest
plays you’ll ever see.  For some it will be exciting,
for others off-putting.  

Someone actually got up about ten minutes into the
play and walked out.  He crossed right through the
acting area to get into the cold night air.  Was he a
plant meant to highlight the nature of the production?
 When the man departed, Plate seemed confused.  After
a momentary pause, he launched into an “ad libbed”
speech that tied the exit to his flow of thought and
then used the device throughout the rest of the
production to bridge ideas together.  The same thing
happened later when he “spontaneously” brought an
audience member on stage and used him as a prop for
yet another rambling tale.  

I should have figured that this was going to be one of
“those” evenings when, at the start of the show, Plate
started to talk to the audience while he was standing
in the dark.  Was there a blown light cue by the
techie in charge of illumination?  The lights suddenly
flashed on as the actor was telling us about the dark.
 The contradictions were starting.

Even the ending was not traditional.  At one point,
mid-sentence, Plate just left the stage and didn’t
return.  The audience sat, quietly, waiting to figure
out whether we were in intermission, the actor had
forgotten his lines and panicked, or the whole
experience was really over.  There was no closing
curtain, no sudden rise in lighting level to signal,
“it’s over.”  Someone finally got up and left.  Others
followed.  Yes, our experience was over.

Plate is marvelous!  His confusion is real.  The tears
he sheds, the bodily shakes, the confused look in his
eyes, the underplayed manic expressiveness on his face
are real.   Plate’s pain and Pain are real!

The show was directed by Joel Hammer, but who knows
what his role was.  Is this Plate’s conception or
Hammer’s creation?  	It’s all part of those questions
about the play that will never be answered.

CAPSULE JUDGEMENT:  ‘THOM PAIN (based on nothing), is
a 70-minute, no intermission or late seating,
compelling piece of theatre.  Is it for everyone?  No.
 If you like escapist comedy or light musicals this is
not for you.  But, if you want to think, and see a
marvelous performance, get down to Shaker Square and
have a meaningful, if thought confusing experience.

‘THOM PAIN (based on nothing), is being performed in
Dobama’s temporary home at 13100 Shaker Square (the
former Gap store near the Shaker Square Cinema). 
There is lots of free parking behind the theatre.  
The show runs through February 17.  For information
and tickets call 216-932-3396.  Dobama’s next
production, ‘SHORN,’ written and performed by Juliette
Regnier, will be staged from February 22 through March
4 in the same space.


Roy Berko's blog, which contains theatre and dance reviews from 2002 through 2007, as well as his consulting and publications information, can be found at http://royberko.info
      
Roy's theatre and dance reviews appear regularly on NeOHIOpal, an on-line source.   To subscribe to this free service via the World Wide Web, visit http://lists.fredsternfeld.com/mailman/listinfo/neohiopal.  His dance reviews also appear on www.coolcleveland.com


 
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