Invisible Show II

This outstandingly touching and beautiful show is desperately simple. Four actors playing invisible people with invisible lives full of passion, sadness and hope are hidden among the milling crowds at the Pleasance Courtyard.

You know nothing about them and if you don’t look hard, you’ll never see them either. The headphones provided give you constant access to their conversations – about ordinary lives full of real meaning.

But the hunt for the performers throws up all sorts of unexpected and wondrous consequences. You start by simply scanning everyone’s faces until you find them. Then you feel a guilty sense of smugness, especially when another headphone-wearer walks by without spotting them right under his nose.

Then, as the tales of family and of love, requited and unrequited, unfold, you begin to exchange glances with other spectators who’ve also found the action, as if sharing some impossibly beautiful secret.

The whole thing is heartfelt, touching and real beyond any imagining. The actors’ courage and commitment is simply staggering. You long to know their names and shout them out.

Many shows in 2011 have tried to make new chaos out of old. Invisible Show II pinpoints the meaning within it. Five stars are not enough for this polished, multifaceted, flawless, 24-carat rose diamond of a show.

– Craig Singer