Thom Pain (based on nothing)

by Will Eno
Edith Podesta, Yarra Ileto and NAFA

M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2024

(organised and curated by TNS)

NAFA Studio Theatre, Singapore

American playwright Will Eno's monologue, which premiered on the Edinburgh Fringe in 2004 to warm reviews and has been performed many times since, is a bit of a curious thing. One man, a little awkward, a little diffident, ambles onto the stage and simply starts talking. He tells us about a boy and a dog that died, tries to do a magic trick, chats up someone from the audience and laments life, love and lost opportunities. It's schizophrenic and disjointed, at times wistful, at times funny and at times rather maudlin. Yet, at its core, it's about someone trying to desperately make a connection to the world and finding meaning in his existence.

A monologue like this only works when there is a genuine thread between actor and audience that is built up over time, something which is unfortunately absent in Edith Podesta's production as part of the M1 Singapore Fringe Festival featuring students from the BA (Hons) in Performance Making program at NAFA. Podesta splices the monologue amongst twenty students, giving each of them various parts. This diffuses the quiet, unassailable thrust of Eno's words, making us wonder if we are in fact listening to the same person.

The production is also not helped by variable acting standards, including several performers who can barely enunciate their lines and feel like they are merely reading off a script. I simply could not shake off the feeling of watching a school audition where random kids have been asked to perform a bit. The whole thing feels fragmented and extremely laboured despite lasting only an hour. Stylised hand movements by choreographer Yarra Ileto only add to the distraction.

Jing Ng's sound and Tan Zi Feng's lighting designs go some way in creating a stylish aesthetic and I particularly appreciated Max Tan's elegant costume design, a palette of greys and blacks that channels the tramp-like nature of the unnamed protagonist. Indeed, there is more than a passing whiff of Didi and Gogo from Beckett's Godot here, as well as Edgar of Shakespeare's Lear who transforms from a nobleman to naked, rambling madman Poor Tom. I desperately wanted to feel part of that raw and rugged humanity but it never comes through. 

This monologue may ultimately be based on nothing but it needs something to come alive.

The Crystalwords score: 1/5