THE INVISIBLE MAN

Artwork by David McClure at Velcrobelly

HELEN REDFERN CHATS WITH DIRECTOR ANNA GIRVAN ABOUT NORTHERN STAGE’S ELECTRIFYING NEW PRODUCTION, WHICH EXPLORES THEMES OF EXPLOITATION, IDENTITY AND ESTABLISHMENT POWER AND CORRUPTION

“What would I do if I were invisible? How does it feel to be treated as invisible by society in the UK in 2022?”

Ahead of the Northern Stage adaptation of HG Wells’ sci-fi classic The Invisible Man, director Anna Girvan has been delving into these questions raised by one of the most iconic characters in horror fiction, alongside writer Philip Correia. This contemporary re-working of the well-known Gothic horror tale seeks to deliver something new and fresh that audiences weren’t expecting. Anna Girvan reveals: “The set will have a modern Gothic feel with a starkness in its design that alludes to the original and that suspenseful tension of not being quite sure who to believe and what to believe.” Relishing the clever and inventive ingenuity required to convey invisibility to an audience, she explains: “Creating an invisible presence on stage is of course one of the hot topics with the light and sound designer, and we’ve been playing with sound, which is not always what it seems.”

Northern Stage has cast four early career North East actors as part of its ongoing commitment to supporting and developing new talent in the region. Daniel Watson will play Griffin, a frustrated young man from the North East with a troubled past and violent thoughts, who claims to have discovered the power of invisibility; Kate Louise Okello plays Dr Sara Kemp, a promising young therapist; Jack Fairley and Izzy Ions then take on all the other characters as the lens through which we see the main protagonists.

Director Anna Girvan returns to her roots in the North East to work with this predominantly North East cast and creative team. When she was starting out in theatre, she didn’t want to get “sucked into this London-centric bubble where the regions get so easily forgotten” and yet discovered how hard it is to forge a career outside of the capital. “Quite a lot of the time, when you’re working in London, you can be the only Northern voice in the room and you feel like you’re coming from quite a different perspective, and so this production feels quite special.”

THIS IS ONE OF THOSE STORIES WHERE THE VOICE FEELS QUITE STRONGLY FROM THE NORTH EAST, BUT ANYONE FROM OTHER REGIONS WOULD BE ABLE TO IDENTIFY, WHERE THERE ARE LOTS OF LITTLE POCKETS OF SOCIETY THAT HAVE BEEN LEFT BEHIND OR FEEL INVISIBLE

Touring the region after its Northern Stage debut, Anna believes a wider audience further afield will relate to the production. “This is one of those stories where the voice feels quite strongly from the North East, but anyone from other regions would be able to identify, where there are lots of little pockets of society that have been left behind or feel invisible.”

As for Griffin, who will believe someone like him? He’s uneducated, invisible in society. He must be mad. After all, how could someone like him achieve these scientific heights? For Anna, the play reveals that “people from those places do have the capability to do remarkable things, they just don’t have the opportunity or anyone having the belief in them.”

So what about the insidious invisible presence that has changed the world today in ways we could not possibly have conceived? I wonder how the pandemic has framed this production, beyond the obvious ever-increasing levels of uncertainty and disruption. Now that science fiction has crashed into reality, is it so crazy to believe in The Invisible Man?

The Invisible Man is performed at Northern Stage, Newcastle from Tuesday 1st-Saturday 19th February before touring the region at Phoenix Theatre, Blyth (Thursday 24th February); Gala Durham (Tuesday 1st March); Queen’s Hall, Hexham (Wednesday 2nd March); The Witham, Barnard Castle (Thursday 3rd March); Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle (Saturday 12th March) and The Exchange, North Shields (Saturday 19th March). www.northernstage.co.uk