The team behind the lockdown live-streamed reading of Orphans, which starred none other than Alec Baldwin, is back with a brand new treat for stay-at-home theatre lovers who need that sweet stage fix.
Captured by multiple cameras at Woolloomooloo’s beloved Old Fitz Theatre, Red Line Productions live-streamed season of one-man show Thom Pain (based on nothing) will be directed by and star Toby Schmitz (This Much Is True, The Emperor of Sydney) alongside co-director Andrew Henry.
The Pulitzer Prize-nominated show – an extended monologue about bees, dogs and love – is written by American playwright Will Eno. It’s billed as a surreal meditation on life, both as affirmation and exploration of the empty promises it makes. Time Out New York reviewer Helen Shaw saying, “It’s the kind of slap that wakes you right up, so be sure to sit in front—where it can hit you.”
While we’ll all be sitting at home on the edge of our sofa, it’s still bound to be exhilarating. Schmitz says of the show, “I read this play and was changed. One of the many territories it adventures into is the nature of performance. I long-dreamed of doing it in a small theatre for an intimate audience. Doing it in a small theatre for an uncountable audience, who may or may not be intimate, blows the roof off the play. But the play always blew the roof off itself.”
Red Line’s artistic director Andrew Henry says, “We’ve been overwhelmed by the thousands of emails of thanks and support following our previous live-streamed readings. People felt connected to the stories they miss seeing, and to each other, in these complex times. And now we’re evolving how we do things. Theatre has survived by moving with the times. And this time, and for the first time, we’re literally inviting the whole world into the four walls of our legendary home base.”
Thom Pain will stream live Monday, June 29 to Friday July 3 at 7:30pm Sydney, plus 11.30am on Saturday, July 4. Tickets are pay what you think, and free for those who can’t afford it right now, Henry says. “Nobody should feel pressured financially at the moment, those that can afford to buy a ticket, can. If they can’t, they shouldn’t think twice and tune in anyway.”
This article is supported by the Judith Neilson Institute for Journalism and Ideas.
