THEATRE REVIEW: Invincible ★★★

Invincible

Birmingham Rep Theatre

Tuesday 17th May 2015

When you enter the auditorium for this show, a makeshift interior of a ground floor house has been erected, depicting a homely sense, whereas around this set are at least a hundred houses made from building blocks you would play with as a child, to add to this though, a toy train is then heard and seen moving along all these structures to arrive onto the set of the erected house. This is Invincible, a show about Emily (Emily Bowker) and Oliver (Alastair Whatley), a couple, though not married, who have moved to the north from the south to allow their baby daughter a chance to integrate with ‘Real People’.

Also in the mix with the show are those ‘Real People’, who are depicted as next door neighbours Dawn (Kerry Bennett) and Alan (Graeme Brookes), who have sons and daughters, with one son away in the war. The production centres around a dinner party in the first act, where different opinions that soon result in arguments arise, and it’s not long before chaos ensues.

The second act though takes away the stereotypes of the couples, and you realise as an audience that the roles, and soon you get this raw performance by the four piece cast was is so cleverly and brilliantly heart-warming and wrenching at the same time.

It’s hard to say anymore without giving the plot away, but the performances on stage are eclectic, lively, and all have charisma and chemistry with each other sharing the space. I would say that It took some time for me to fully get into the production, but what I did love was how each character was introduced by a single spotlight, only for a matter of a second, before the action returned to the household. This leads onto another point I liked, as this was how you could clearly define the scenes with the blackouts, which then lead to a different episode almost from a segment of the dinner party. Alan for me was a personal highlight with everything he said and did, especially in the Vince paintings sequence of the show.

The direction of this show was also slick and stylish, and really helped by this from the set design of the interior of the house, which changed between first and second act to show a time difference of a week between the two acts.

Overall, Invincible is a show for anyone who wants a chilled, at times hilarious but also heartbreaking, evening at the theatre, to then come out of the theatre with a smile on your face.