Three very different people just turned 60 are the focus of Invisible Me, a new play by Bren Gosling currently running at Southwark Playhouse.
The title refers to the invisibility many feel in the stage of life where you can get free prescriptions and an Oyster + travel card.
Lynn (Tessa Peake-Jones), Jack (James Holmes), and Alec (Kevin N Golding) have all found themselves living on their own. At first they tell us about their loneliness and the ways they try to engage with the wider world. Of course cafes figure; sex, too.
It’s a very minimalist set (by David Shields) with a light box at the back and a stage with different levels made up to look like floor tiles. Three identical folding wooden chairs. We could be anywhere but it works.
Alec is a taxi driver. Lynn cleans in a Travelodge. It isn’t clear what Jack does. They all live close by but don’t know each other. The scripts flutters from one to the other, often mid-scene.
When each makes a decision to take a risk and shake up their lives in the name of fun, their 60th birthdays stand as a marker point to a new ‘me’. Not invisible any longer.
Warm and funny, relatable (I’m a 50-something married to a 60-something) and touching, and impeccably played by the three actors, Invisible Me puts people in their ‘senior’ years centre-stage for a change, offering a chance for both nostalgia and a firm, resolute, step into the future.
Scott Le Crass directs this thoughtful and engaging piece, navigating the forays into the unknown, the mis-steps, and the realisation that you are far from finished after 60.
The performances are irresistible. Golding breaks the fourth wall the most, almost preening to the audience in his jeans and leather jacket. Peake-Jones is insular, timid, but achieves an epiphany “on her terms”. Holmes is sweetly sad, navigating the path of grief as an older gay man on his own.
Invisible Man brings out the fun and reality of second chances and capturing the moment in bedrooms, cafes, streets and parks. These three people capture the heart and we really care about them.
Four stars.
Invisible Me continues at Southwark Playhouse Borough until 2 May: tickets here.
Photo credit: Harry Elletson
Check out my recent interview with Kevin N Golding.