The staging is witty. In order to make an invisible man “visible”, an element of production usually hidden from audiences is laid bare. On a stage divided into two halves, one half is realistically set out to suggest the consultation room where Dr Kemp (Kate Louise Okello), star radio therapist, holds private sessions. The other half is a dark space in which stand a couple of benches strewn with seemingly random objects. This is the Foley area, where sound effects are created and other spaces suggested (pub, house, street, vicarage). When Daniel Watson’s Griffin finally succeeds in making himself invisible, he still seems to move before us thanks to the deft combination of Foley effects and his fellow actors’ reactions (to being beaten by unseen fists, for instance).
Philip Correia’s new version of HG Wells’s much-adapted 1897 novel also plays with other notions of visibility/invisibility, but less successfully. The action, relocated to present-day north-east England, shuttles to and fro in time and space, exposing hidden forces that shape today’s society via the story of Griffin, a troubled teenager from a disadvantaged background who claims he can make living creatures invisible. When his actions inadvertently cause a tragic house fire, the authorities refuse to see the facts he presents and confine him to an institution. His new therapist, Kemp, has her own issues (of class, race and gender). She hopes, mad-scientist like, to exploit Griffin’s discovery so she might infiltrate corridors of power and exercise control over world events.
This production is part of Northern Stage’s project to support developing talent in the regions. I appreciated the commitment of the four young actors (including Jack Fairley and Izzy Ions in several roles), as directed by Anna Girvan; also the effectiveness of Aileen Kelly’s design and Jeremy Bradfield’s sound and music. The play’s plot, though, is too chaotic; drama and social critique, lacking focus, disappear from view.
The Invisible Man is at Northern Stage, Newcastle, until 19 February, then touring until 26 March
