2015INVISID_VB

A depersonalised voice with a disturbing robotic lilt booms across the stage. It is harrowing, authoritative and devoid of emotion. It sets your nerves on the very edge as it trills that one awful, haunting phrase:

“Unexpected item in bagging area.”

Invisible Cities is a wonderfully abstract piece of theatre that manages to be both sweet and eerie. Rather than a story, it conjures up a frame of mind. Slowly, the charming Lowri Jenkins finds herself slipping into a lonely disillusionment, driven by her move into the big city from rural arcadia.

In a comic yet emotive satire of an urban landscape, Invisible City follows Jenkins as she struggles to create a community, is confronted by discombobulated voices of the supermarket (the aptly named Crap Palace) and goes through endless CV buzzwords. It recreates the atmosphere of city life with a startling accuracy and exposes it for all its absurdity. Revealing an almost Huxlean dystopia; the term community is a commodification, found only in the bargain aisles. The arduous job hunt depersonalises humans into their ‘transferable sills’, leaving Jenkins literally convulsing with pressure – “ So,  zero-hour contract, how many hours is that exactly?”, “No lunch break – no problem!”

The set is perfectly crafted, a deconstruction of a supermarket white panels hang from the ceiling and baskets of lemons are suspended as if from nowhere. A bewildering place, everything is glittering, dystopian and there is a sense of comfort purposefully created: artificial and false, it doesn’t work. Throw in strobe lights and physical convulsions, Jenkins unravels from adorable to unstable, to a little bit of both combined in the best possible way. Jenkins is almost too innocent, too freshly plucked to portray madness effectively, but it is her child-like qualities that give the piece its humour and effective contradiction.

Visually stimulating, Invisible City is entirely relatable and pulses with intensity. An unusual perspective version on city reality, Invisible City reveals truths not usually spoken.

Invisible City is playing  at Venue 13 from August 18 – 23, 25 – 29 as part of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. For more information, visit the Edinburgh fringe website.