Theatre Review: Thom Pain, Herald Theatre

Oliver Driver in Thom Pain. Photo / Andrew Malmo

I like seeing people suffer under bright lighting." So reads a quote in the programme for this semi-absurdist one-man show from its American playwright, Will Eno.

Judging by the script, Eno's schadenfreude is directed towards audiences as much as fictional people. Like a stand-up comedian or magician, sole character Thom Pain (Oliver Driver) directly addresses his spectators, often picking on them individually. He revels in their squirming: "Which of your beating hearts will volunteer?"

He makes the audience wait while he does nothing, and keeps them literally in the dark: "Do you need to see me to hear me?" He self-consciously skips from one subject to another - animals to death - and back again. The result is not without humour; he spouts clever bons mots and terrible jokes. His love story is banal, but the peculiar, symbolic childhood "incidents" he recounts are compelling.

This could be theatre pulling apart stage conventions to flood an audience with anxious adrenalin and to make them angry. It could be played for deliberate cringe, a la Ricky Gervais (who is mentioned in the play's marketing guff).

But - and this will be a relief to many - this production doesn't explore that masochistic potential. Superfluous details - a Kiwiana Buzzy Bee, occasional music, lighting changes - distract from the stark black-box design. Director Peter Elliott and Driver get off the bus before they reach any pseudo-existentialist hell, having arrived at mild entertainment, tinged with faint discomfort.

Unlike his gripping treatment of an equally sparsely staged Bash monologue in 2004, Driver tries to shape the difficult, erratic Thom Pain using charisma alone. We see a Driver in control rather than in Pain, avoiding the strange awkwardness inherent in the script.

He lets the audience off the hook by not putting himself on the line; when he asks them questions, he doesn't wait for answers.

Driver is capable of making an audience squirm. Eno would urge him to do so.

What: Thom Pain (based on nothing).
Where: Herald Theatre, The Edge.
When: Until October 16.