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Arts Correspondent
A Zimbabwean actor, Jason Linforth, features in an internationally acclaimed one-man play called “Thom Pain (Based on Nothing)” which is set to première tomorrow at Reps Theatre.
Linforth is working towards establishing himself on Broadway.
Written by Will Eno, the play is a rambling monologue in which the protagonist, who has suffered a lot in life tells the story of a bee sting, a boy with a dog that died, and his experience with a woman.
The original US production starred James Urbaniak, who was nominated for the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Solo Performance for his role.
The play is now the second-longest-running outdoor historical drama in the USA, having been performed regularly since 1937 in an amphitheatre on the actual site of the colony.
It then ran at the Soho Theatre and received various awards, premièring in the United States at the DR2 Theatre in New York in 2005
Jason Linforth was born in Harare in 1990 and was educated at Hartmann House and St George’s College in the capital.
He then studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts from 2010 to 2013, made up of a two-year course followed by professional performance opportunities in the Academy Theatre Company.
His first professional production in the US was in an off-Broadway venue with an English theatre company that stages edgy new British plays in New York and the play was called “Moonfleece”.
The plays were “The Memory of Water”, “Nightwatch”, “The Rivals and Improbable Fiction”.
While in North Carolina to do “The Lost Colony”, he also took part in a children’s show, “Puss In Boots” and became involved in play readings.
While In his early teens, Jason also worked on a film, providing a voice for a character in an animated featured called “The Legend of the Sky Kingdom”.
While at school he and a colleague, Matthew Trustham formed a mime duo called “The Silent Knights”, which undertook performances at schools, in cabaret and at theatres in Harare, Kadoma and Bulawayo.
He also performed in many great theatrical productions in Harare, especially at Reps.
Among his successes were award-nominated roles in such productions as “Cabaret” and “The Importance of Being Earnest”.
Online Reporter