Title and Deed / Oh, the Humanity and other good intentions. Will Eno

      

      On Title and Deed

      “A haunting and often fiercely funny meditation on life as a state of permanent exile…The marvel of Mr. Eno’s voice is how naturally it combines a carefully sculptured lyricism with sly, poker-faced humor. Everyday phrases and familiar platitudes—‘Don’t ever change,’ ‘Who knows’—are turned inside out or twisted into blunt, unexpected punch lines punctuating long rhapsodic passages that leave you happily word-drunk.”

      —Charles Isherwood, New York Times

      “The piece proves to be an always fascinating and surprisingly moving seventy minutes of theatre…What emerges from his humorous, sometimes stream-of-conscious patter is a heartfelt exploration of the transience of everything in this life, from words themselves, to relationships, to our very existence.”

      —Andy Propst, TheaterMania

      “Title and Deed is daring within its masquerade of the mundane, spectacular within its minimalism and hilarious within its display of po-faced bewilderment. It is a clown play that capers at the edge of the abyss…Eno’s voice is unique; his play is stage poetry of a high order. You can’t see the ideas coming in Title and Deed. When they arrive—tiptoeing in with a quiet yet startling energy—you don’t quite know how they got there. In this tale’s brilliant telling, it is not the narrator who proves unreliable but life itself. The unspoken message of Eno’s smart, bleak musings seems to be: enjoy the nothingness while you can.”

      —John Lahr, New Yorker

      “Pensive, lyrical, deeply funny and profoundly sad.”

      —Marilyn Stasio, Variety

      On Oh, the Humanity and other good intentions

      “If you’ve ever had an urge to drop to your knees begging ‘can somebody help me please?’ or wanted to admit ‘I don’t know, I just don’t know,’ then these five playlets by Will Eno are for you…Eno is a supreme monologist, using a distinctive, edgy blend of non sequiturs and provisional statements to explore the fragility of our existence, the way we determinedly cling on even when ‘the rug is disintegrating thread by thread, gone before it can be pulled from underneath us.’ There are a lot of words, but they are always exquisitely chosen… Oh, the Humanity reveals that we are beautiful walking tragedies blinking with absurd optimism into the camera lens of history.”

      —Lyn Gardner, Guardian

      “Funny and tragic and truthful…for the uninitiated, Oh, the Humanity provides a perfect introduction to Eno’s work… Made up of five short plays, this is stripped back drama that is all about rich dialogue and big ideas.”

      —What’sOnStage

      “Mr. Eno’s unmistakable voice—aggressively stylized, unendingly compassionate, flecked with weird, bleak humor—rings out with the same arresting originality in this hour-long evening of playfully profound theater…Mr. Eno dares to believe that the theatre is the natural forum for a collective reckoning with the brutal truths and the consoling beauties of experience—all those big-ticket items that you blush to discuss publicly. His despairing figures lay bare their lonely, wounded hearts without blinking, holding mirrors up to our own. What better place for such an encounter? At the theatre, after all, we can feel most powerfully a sense of communion in life’s solitude. It is a place to go to feel alone together.”

      —Charles Isherwood, New York Times

      BOOKS BY WILL ENO

      AVAILABLE FROM TCG

       The Flu Season and Other Plays

      ALSO INCLUDES:

       Intermission

       Tragedy: a tragedy

       Gnit

       Middletown

      The Realistic Joneses [forthcoming]

       Thom Pain (based on nothing)

       Title and Deed/

       Oh, the Humanity and Other Good Intentions

      Title and Deed is copyright © 2012 by Will Eno

      Oh, the Humanity and other good intentions is copyright © 2008 by Will Eno

      Title and Deed/Oh, the Humanity and other good intentions is published by Theatre Communications Group, Inc., 520 Eighth Avenue, 24th Floor, New York, NY 10018-4156

      “Behold the Coach, in a Blazer, Uninsured” appeared in a slightly different version in Harper’s Magazine, February 2003.

      All Rights Reserved. Except for brief passages quoted in newspaper, magazine, radio or television reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or recording, or by an information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Professionals and amateurs are hereby warned that this material, being fully protected under the Copyright Laws of the United States of America and all other countries of the Berne and Universal Copyright Conventions, is subject to a royalty. All rights, including but not limited to, professional, amateur, recording, motion picture, recitation, lecturing, public reading, radio and television broadcasting, and the rights of translation into foreign languages are expressly reserved. Particular emphasis is placed on the question of readings and all uses of this book by educational institutions, permission for which must be secured from the author’s representative: Mark Subias, United Talent Agency, 888 Seventh Avenue, Ninth Floor New York, NY 10106: 212.659.2600.

      This volume is published in arrangement with Oberon Books Ltd, 521 Caledonian Road, London, N7 9RH.

      This publication is made possible in part by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

      TCG books are exclusively distributed to the book trade by Consortium Book Sales and Distribution.

      A catalogue record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.

      ISBN 978-1-55936-777-6 (ebook)

      Front cover image by Simon Larbalestier, “Desert Storm 2001”

      Back cover image by Rodolfo Clix/Stock.ZCHNG

      First Edition, September 2014

      Contents

Title and Deed

       Oh, the Humanity and other good intentions

       Behold the Coach, in a Blazer, Uninsured

       Ladies and Gentleman, the Rain

       Enter the Spokesman, Gently

       The Bully Composition

       Oh, the Humanity

TITLE AND DEED

      To Jim Houghton, now and forever

      Title and Deed was first performed at The Alice Griffin Jewel Box Theatre on May 8 2012 with the following cast:

      Man: Conor Lovett

       Creative Team

      Director: Judy Hegarty Lovett

      Set Designer: Christine Jones

      Costume Designer: Andrea Lauer

      Lighting Designer: Ben