Interludes

VIEWPOINTS – WAITING FOR GODOT & THOM PAIN (BASED ON NOTHING): Kindred spirits Beckett and Eno reflect an anxiety-ridden world

• By drediman
• November 12, 2018
• No Comments

This weekend, it was fascinating to be able to take in Samuel Beckett’s seminal Waiting for Godot in back-to-back viewings with Will Eno’s Thom Pain (based on nothing) – both in superb productions. That’s because Mr. Eno’s brand of existential, word-obsessed, and reality-blurring playwriting is a direct descendant of Beckett’s groundbreaking works, the most famous of which is Waiting for Godot. Seeing both important plays in quick succession was a good reminder that theater can be one of the most potent conduits of existential thoughts and ideas.

Marty Rea and Aaron Monaghan in the Druid Theatre Company’s production of Samuel Beckett’s “Waiting for Godot” at the Gerald W. Lynch Theater, courtesy of Lincoln Center’s White Light Festival. Photo by Matthew Thompson.

The Druid Theatre Company production of Beckett’s Waiting for Godot (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED) that’s currently wrapping up performances at the Gerald W. Lynch Theater comes to New York by way Lincoln Center’s White Light Festival. Helmed by Tony-winning director Garry Hynes (the first woman ever to win the Tony for direction for her work on Martin McDonagh’s The Beauty Queen of Leenane), I don’t think I’ve seen a staging of the work that’s more steeped in physicality. As the pair of perpetual waiters, the tall and lanky Marty Rea and the compact Aaron Monaghan – much younger and energetic actors that I’m used to seeing in the iconic roles (remember, the last time New York saw a major mounting of the play was with Sir Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart) – imbue Vladimir and Estragon with a robust physical vocabulary that gives the play a more pronounced choreographic texture. Maybe because of these actors’ relative youth, this Godot registers angstier and less wistfully resigned than I remember the play being. As a result, the heartbreak and tragedy isn’t as deep as other productions, but that’s okay. This pair just might actually break the code, but not without pumping up the anxiety level.

Michael C. Hall in Signature Theatre Company’s revival of “Thom Pain (based on nothing)”. Photo by Joan Marcus.

Mr. Eno’s 2004 play Thom Pain (based on nothing) (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED) is currently being revived Off-Broadway by Signature Theatre Company, headlined by television and film star Michael C. Hall. Mr. Eno’s absurdist one-man play is a slippery thing, which makes it all the more seductive. It depicts a man who attempts to recount various moments in his life – “attempt” being the operative word here. Right off the bat, it’s clear that our host is not only schizophrenic in his approach to storytelling, he’s also deeply frustrated with the limitations of memory and human existence, resulting in a furious, albeit confused and flailing, account. Luckily, director Oliver Butler very much understands the short play (the running time is just over an hour), producing a staging that’s at once precise and and playfully devious. And so does Mr. Hall, who relishes every moment of the Mr. Eno’s play in a performance that’s razor sharp, in-your-face, and compulsively watchable (despite the character’s occasional frightening rage and mean spiritedness). His depiction of a man on the verge of a nervous breakdown reeks with suffocating anxiety. Perhaps what both the Druid production of Waiting for Godot and this production of Thom Pain (based on nothing) inadvertently reflect to us audience members, and the reason for their success, is the elevated anxiety level of the times we live in.

WAITING FOR GODOT
Off-Broadway, Play
Druid Theatre Company at the Gerald W. Lynch Theater, an offering of Lincoln Center’s White Light Festival
2 hours, 45 minutes (with one intermission)
Through November 13

THOM PAIN (BASED ON NOTHING)
Off-Broadway, Play
Signature Theatre Company
1 hour, 10 minutes (without an intermission)
Through December 2