Thom Pain (based on nothing) [Revised TCG Edition]: With Other Monologues for Theatre

by Will Eno

When Will Eno's one-person play Thom Pain opened in New York in February 2005, it became something rare--an unqualified hit. Before that, the play was a critical success in London and received the coveted Fringe First Award at the Edinburgh Festival. Dubbed "stand-up existentialism" by the New York Times, this monologue is both lyrical and deadpan, sardonic and sincere. It is Thom Pain--in the camouflage of the common man--fumbling with his heart, squinting into the light. This revised edition will be published in conjunction with a revival production at Signature Theatre in New York in the fall of 2018, starring Michael C. Hall.

Genres: Plays, Drama, Theatre, Fiction, Read For School

128 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2005

Reviews

[Mary Slowik · Rating 5 out of 5]

December of Drama 2015, day nine

Full disclosure: this play was brought to my attention by Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor, also known as the men behind Welcome to Night Vale. During their Q&A and reading at the Music Box theater, they didn't exactly recommend it but rather pointed to it as a major influence on their writing style, something they've consciously tried to emulate. That obviously counted as a recommendation, in my eyes.

Well now. I've seen this described as indescribable (haha), and that's about right. I can only say that it's the most effective 'meta' drama I've ever read-- genius, modern-day Beckett stuff. Will Eno manages to mine humor out of the most deeply painful insights, delivering a kind of crushing, true-to-life sadness that's flavored with surprising and bittersweet laughter. It's abrasive, depressing, and hilarious.

[Tom Walsh · Rating 4 out of 5]

An Amazing Theatrical Experience

“Would that I may provoke in you a similar mark: a little growth, a blemish of real life. Don’t think that I think I will.”

But he does. Eno says that his play is based on nothing, but it is. It is based on the underside of this thing we believe we experience as Life: its pain, joy, comedy, moments of beauty and ugliness, fear and absurdity.

Oh, yes! Absurdity. This play harkens back to the Theatre of the Absurd of Beckett and Pirandello. Its flat, two-dimensional portrayal of what we all experience but mask in social conventions. It rips the masks away and makes us face the one thing that dominates our subconscious lives: FEAR, FEAR, FEAR.

There are no ogres, no Marvel supervillains here, no Monsters, just possibilities that terrify us. Loss of love, abandonment, failure, lack of answers, lack of reasons to go on. These are the fears that prey on our insecure selves. They are all here. On the stage. In the words of the monologue.

We are all the little boy in the Cowboy Outfit lying in the frozen puddle mourning the loss of his beloved doggy needing to find a reason to get up.

Not a pretty image but one we face in the mirror each day.

[Doug · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this play script back when it first came out over a dozen years ago, and found it interesting, but also somewhat incomprehensible ... although have read virtually everything Eno has come up with since and have enjoyed many of them. I wanted to reread this due to it's recent off-Broadway revival and to see if it was nay clearer to the more mature me. It still has elements that don't QUITE work for me, but the gist is certainly clearer.

[Graham Mazie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’d imagine this is a play much better seen than read. It reads as beautiful nonsense on the page, but I can imagine it being moving and profound with the right actor.

[Kandice · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a gift from my daughter. We saw it performed in New York City when I visited her over Thanksgiving. Michael C Hall played Thom, and despite not being a Hall fanatic, my daughter was game to go. We both loved it! Hall is even more beautiful in the flesh and wanders through the audience at times giving us two foot away face time with him. That alone would have made the experience magical, but Eno's play was something else altogether. I left my seat and kept thinking of Thom at odd moments for weeks. It hadn't even occurred to me to read the play. I was so thrilled when it arrived in my mailbox.

This is a work meant to be felt. I actually cried as I read. I needed to take a break at the section about bees to collect myself. A small boy disturbs a bee hive and mistakenly thinks the bees are trying to help his hurts, not realizing they are the cause. He strokes the bees and thanks them as they slowly sting him almost to death. Talk about heavy. And deep. *breathe*

This play is an uninterrupted monologue, performed on a sparse set, but more than making up for the minimalism with an abundance of feeling. Pity, dislike, amusement and even fear a few times when Thom becomes unpredictable and menacing.

I cannot recommend this enough. I don't know how to describe or explain it. There is no plot. It isn't a linear story. Thom isn't even honest in much of what he says, and yet... you know what he really means, despite the words coming from his lips (or on the page). We are all people. Feeling flesh bags waiting to be loved, connected to or with, even hurt. Hoping and fearing. Each of us, even when, perhaps especially when, we are hoping for and fearing different things.

[zz · Rating 2 out of 5]

So beautiful, my God. She had everything. She had fleas, which I think I gave her, and moles and birthmarks that she came up with on her own.

[Lauren · Rating 2 out of 5]

A runner-up for the Pulitzer in 2005, Thom Pain is the weak sibling to the other two finalists, The Clean House and Doubt (the winner, and one of my favorite plays).

Something bothered me from the start of Thom Pain, but I couldn’t immediately put my finger on what that was. Then it hit me, and I couldn't unsee it. A friend recently read The Artist’s Way and mentioned its suggested morning pages in an email. That’s what Thom Pain reads like: as if Mr. Eno had taken his own morning pages (I have no idea if he does this exercise), gave them a brief edit, and said “Look, I have a play.”

What’s contained in these pages is a rambling outline for a play that could be interesting: see, by comparison, Sarah Ruhl’s The Clean House, which pushed the limits on storytelling while staying within the traditional structure and, as a result, ended up with a deeper and more fulfilling finished product.

I’m mostly convinced Thom Pain falls into the “Emperor’s New Clothing” category of art: It’s so weird that no one wants to admit they don’t like it for fear of seeming plebeian, so somehow a bad play ends up with awards. Not recommended.

[Seymour Glass · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oh, the infinite trouble with reading a play. Plays were meant to be seen and heard - performed - first and foremost. So I don't feel I can accurately rate this play within goodreads star rating system.
It's a dude with a very traumatic past having an existential crisis onstage while hitting on a woman in the audience. It's classic white-man-needs-a-shrink. But to see it performed live it probably bursts forth in a rainbow of insight and emotion. I would go and see it if it was on because I'm intrigued as to how they'd stage certain parts of it more than anything else. There is a lot of humour in here, but it would depend on the delivery whether it lands or not.
First on at Edinburgh Fringe, I see, hoorah!

[Larry C · Rating 1 out of 5]

After seeing The Realistic Joneses, which I didn't like, I decided to read some Eno to get a better understanding of his style. Was I missing something from Joneses, this Beckett meets Albee for a new generation? After trudging through a mindless 30 pages of Thom Pain, I learned that I just don't like his style. This play reads as if it has a deep meaning or understanding so that we can all relate. I found myself relating to the pissed off audience that paid to see this terrible play. I'll stick with Albee, thank you.

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

"When did your childhood end? How badly did you get hurt, when you did, when you were this little, when you were this wee little hurtable thing, nothing but big eyes, a heart, a few hundred words? Isn't it wonderful how we never recover?"

[max theodore]

i read this while walking around in the dark kind of sad. don't do that

[Lark · Rating 2 out of 5]

Okay. I'm about to go off on a Saturday morning with nothing better myself to do, so take this with a grain of salt. (Note: I saw the production at the Geffen with Rainn Wilson, following a talkback he had done with the theatre department at the neighboring UCLA. It's important to note, I think, that Wilson was his former roommate. It was clunky.)
There is a great Vulture quote in a review about Thom Pain.
"It wants to connect, and to be about connection, but it also wants to say 'go fuck yourselves' (and it does). Thom Pain is not Beckett. Its heart is still about three sizes too small and its ego is bigger than it thinks."
GOD. This strikes right to the heart of it. Will Eno does not show the courage, TRULY, to bring the audience into any kind of conversation. Its a running bit in the show, but the underlying discomfort never goes away: Will Eno wants you to validate an endless string of nothing, and he does it with his tail between his legs as if you have already rejected him
1) Let's talk about the trope of the fourth-wall breaking narrator who has to learn long monologues. I'll admit, this is probably a cool challenge for an actor. But a challenge to what? To memorize pages and pages of drivel that hints at humanity? To be personable? So little in this text really allows for connection, and these sort of characters REQUIRE you to connect with your audience because they will notice immediately if you don't. Eno thinks his character has a "severe formality and reserve". That's...not true? He reads like a narcissist, begging you to listen and never to contribute. Why include us at all? ALL the moments are manufactured.
When Wilson was Thom Pain, this read as blandly as it could - as someone who was learning a long monologue. I don't think this was Wilson's fault. Eno wrote himself a character that needs to be at once connected to, engaged with their audience in real time, both while focused on making a bit out of denying that audience real contact.
Eno has said the play is a "monologue itself (that) becomes a discussion without other people coming in". No, the discussion is between "variations of the self"
He does not leave the opportunity for the audience to be anything BUT supportive, despite a main character who if we met in real life would be insufferable to be around, despite structuring his play to pretend as though his audience is part of the conversation. Again, very clearly influenced by the pathos of Beckett, but it is not Beckett. No one is watching a character they see themselves in struggle for connection and fail. Samuel Beckett KNEW no one wanted to hear it, was reminded by critics and audiences, his friends and idols. Beckett was trapped by himself and we can see that from the outside and mourn. (Please look up the story of the San Quentin production of Godot) Thom Pain lacks pathos because Will Eno sees cruelty arising from the grief within himself and thinks everyone wants that mirrored back at them.
(sidenote: another play he wrote had a performance go up with the review that it "balances cruelty and comedy". Who wants that?)


2) So. His audience. Who was it? Answer: he is patronized by big theatres to write new works. His audience is (by and large) rich, older white people, because the rich-old-patron model (despite being in rapid decline) is the go-to model with these theatres, and it is how they make their decisions. MAYBE rich, young white people. Typically Men. And it's so clear that he sees himself as a universal voice despite this. He will obviously hear this note at some point and seemingly begrudgingly shake things up for Lady Grey (different play included in the same book) where he keeps remarking through a woman lead (who sounds...the same as Thom Pain did) about the whiteness of his audience, but not without immediately including "Note to self: dear me. I don't know what you people want from me"


-----------------------
I gave up on this review because I was becoming disorganized. I think it goes to show that when this play was remounted at the Geffen, the takeaway Eno wanted for his audience was the line "isn't it great to be alive?". He says he hopes the audience "stuck with" the character only to get to that question at the end and leave the theatre valuing life more.
It says a lot that this is the best he had to say even 11 years after writing the show.

tl;dr even if you love works like Beckett's, Eno is not worth your time, or frankly anyone's. Some solid wordsmithing, but not impactful theatre or literature. Clearly a case of privilege begetting opportunity in theatre.

[Verba Non Res · Rating 3 out of 5]

Can you picture the face of a little boy in your mind, without disfiguring it anyway? Can you picture anything without it falling apart? Can you picture even a simple square without it going sideways and wrong and triangular?

Tengo la sensación de que el subtítulo (Based on Nothing) hace referencia a algo más que las posibles inspiraciones de la obra. Los monólogos son un género complicado de escribir y de interpretar, pero sobre todo de leer, porque también son los que más exigen del actor. Will Eno dedica un párrafo intenso a las características que Thom Pain -y, en gran medida, según él entiende, el actor que lo interpreta- debe emanar, aunque casi todas ellas son abstractas e imposibles de cuantificar. Este párrafo introductorio pone de manifiesto una falta que la mera lectura no puede suplir -y, en realidad, posiblemente, tampoco puede hacerlo ninguna interpretación.

Hay otra ventaja del monólogo, en tanto acto interpretativo, frente al puro texto. Si oímos hablar a alguien, puede que no entendamos todo, puede que no lo sigamos todo el tiempo, pero, ya que es el otro el que está hablando, podemos dejarnos llevar y, de vez en cuando, encontrar pasajes memorables. Esta operación es más difícil como lector, en especial frente a un texto tan desestructurado como Thom Pain, porque la operación depende enteramente de nosotros, y de nuestra imaginación depende darle a ese Thom Pain una voz convincente. La voz en sí es tan relevante que hasta uno puede escuchar el monólogo y sentir que entendió de qué iba sin haber entendido casi nada en realidad. Este es el truco de muchos gurúes espirituales, y de otro tipo, que saben hablar sin decir mucho y dejar a su audiencia satisfecha, y quiero creer que también es el truco de Thom Pain.

It all seems so useless, so unusable. The house that you live in, the oceans, the mountains, the peace-keeping forces. The restaurants and anniversaries, the factories and gardens, useless. Fuck it all, kill it and burn it all down, you say, if you have a little headache.

[Karlee · Rating 2 out of 5]

Welcome to Night Vale Bookclub pick. This is a series of monologuing, which aren't generally my jam - and this certainly held to that standard. All of the narrators were unlikeable and scattered. I'm sure this is an attempt to give some deep, meaningful, "ART" presentation - but it just felt full of itself. This felt especially true in the title piece, Thom Pain (Based on Nothing) - in which the stage directions seem to also contain directoral notes about how the actor should be feeling while presenting their lines. Something about that inclusion just really struck me wrong; it felt like a manipulation or a misleading - like I the reader of the script am unable to interpret it, so I must be spoon-fed this information. All of these monologues also have very direct interaction with the audience, but it feels very demeaning in how it's used. Like the audience is necessary but unwanted. I don't know - reading scripts isn't my favorite, and one-person shows have never been "it" for me, so maybe I shouldn't be surprised by the negative reaction to this collection. 

[Doug S. · Rating 5 out of 5]

A reflective character study on the commonalties of humanity

A friend asked me to read this play. They want to produce and star in it and thought I might be a good director for it. Now having read it, I can safely say I would love to dig into this with them.

Thom Pain is a one person show in which the titular Thom Pain tells stories about his life to an audience. Throughout the play his thoughts wind and whirl, going back and forth, trying to make sense of his own being. Audience members are spoken to directly at times as Thom tries to establish connections with others.

While you could say this about most theatre, this play is meant to feel completely non-scripted. There's a stream of consciousness tone going on and yet there are layers upon layers to what Thom says.

I found the play utterly captivating and really hope I get to explore it further.

[Dawn Quixote · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bookclub read (WTN): A collection of three short monologues about everything and nothing. The moments that stick with us, that makes us, that means nothing to someone else. There are definitely influences of Beckett here, without his absurdity.
Thom Pain and Lady Grey almost have something to say, perhaps how something in your childhood can affect you forever. Perhaps they have nothing to say, we're all up on a stage, shouting our soliloquies - what matters to us seldom matters to anyone else.
The final piece was my favourite, the most farcucal. I could imagine enjoying performing it. "I will act quickly, entertain myself, and then leave".

While I enjoyed reading them, these are meant to be seen and performed (me standing in my living room reading them out loud isn't going to cut it). I hope I get the opportunity to see these characters, trapped on the stage rather than in the page.

[Si Squires-Kasten · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really want to see this play onstage. Thom Pain feels borne of an acute creative anxiety, alternately terrified, bored, and in love with its audience. It's also very funny, and full of gorgeous prose, and I imagine it would be pretty hard to act.

"We've all probably had the roughly same experience. Yes? I don't know."

[Ella · Rating 5 out of 5]

You know the feeling when you start reading something and realize about four pages in that it’s going to be your new favourite? Yeah. That.

Anyway, I sat down for an hour and a half and read all 3 of these short plays and god god god god they were so good.

[Mary D · Rating 4 out of 5]

Saw this acted by Rainn Wilson. A one man drama of the joys and losses and pain that life randomly doles out. Not overly emotional but more like the pain in life that shapes us. He says,”I am just like you”. Funny and sad all at the same time.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely amazing. The themes and little nuances you begin to notice throughout the play are just indescribable. Literally the first play I’ve seen and read where I cannot describe it to someone. It needs to be seen and read in order to understand.

[Deyth Banger · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow men what a rollercoaster, well written and well told by Rainn Wilson. I was amazed from the whole story and after all it's based upon nothing just rambling and doing rants about nothing what a genius premise.

[Jordan Muschler · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unsure how I feel about this. Moments struck me as sad and brilliant, others as unfocused and a bit pretentious. Seeing it on the stage would help me find which direction of thought to decide on better.

[Catalina · Rating 4 out of 5]

very weird very good long monologues.

idea
1- nothing matters/ no meaning
2- we choose / we create meaning

Thom Pain: you will lose stuff every day, some days big some small but you’re always losing stuff and losing until you lose yourself so you might as well live.

[Renuvajra Sunandavongs · Rating 5 out of 5]

I performed this play as my undergraduate senior project, but I don’t think I truly grasped it at the time. It’s a deeply complex work that examines pain and fragility, and he reflects a part of all of us.

[Kelley · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a bizarre little play, but I loved it. Eno is quickly becoming one of my favourite playwrights.

[Doug Levandowski · Rating 2 out of 5]

Much too abstract for my tastes - but recommended to me by someone whose taste I trust more than mine.

[Severian]

Finito nel 01/gen/1970 00:00:00

[Mike Errico · Rating 5 out of 5]

“I’m the kind of person you might not hear from for some time, but then, suddenly, one day, bang, you never hear from me again.”

I saw it live, and it’s every bit as good in book form.

[Josh · Rating 5 out of 5]

unsettling, heartbreaking, hilarious

[Scott Vandrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you’re looking for a clever, insightful (and strangely touching) play with one actor, a chair, two lights and nine props – bam, this one’s for you. Like smoke, it lingers.