THEATRE: THOM PAIN (BASED ON NOTHING)
“Does it scare you being face-to-face with the modern mind? You should be,” says Thom Pain in the play’s opening minutes. And what a complex mind it is: full of competing emotions and thoughts, such as pain, wit and poetics. Thom Pain aims to reveal all of this while challenging you to think about your life and the incidents we share as humans. One minute, he employs the devices of narrative and waxes lyrical about his experiences of love, sex and loss. A simple two-beat piano tune plays poignantly in the background. Then suddenly, he negates these elegies with cynicism and ambivalence. He’s either uncertain about everything or unable to commit and he invites you to participate in this elusiveness. This makes Thom Pain (Based on Nothing) a unique and exciting theatre experience. The oscillation between philosophy and satire, combined with some unusual staging and lighting techniques – blackouts to switching every light on and dragging an audience member on stage – consistently create moments of humour and confrontation. You’ll definitely laugh, but you might also squirm. Luke Mullins is excellent as Thom Pain. He delivers his lines with razor-sharp timing while managing to imbue this seemingly slippery character with some depth and credibility.
Until Aug 16, Belvoir St Theatre, 25 Belvoir Street, Surry Hills, $10-29, 9699 3444 or belvoir.com.au
