Rebecca Lenkiewicz’s new play aims to show the effects of cuts to Legal Aid. The hard political facts are provided in an accompanying leaflet, and as a result she is able to omit dry statistics and focus on human stories.
The best scene involves Gail, an overworked solicitor, going on a date with Andy, a nervous doctor given amusing vitality by Niall Buggy. It soon becomes clear that Andy isn’t looking for love. Instead he needs legal advice, and the date is a ruse to secure a free consultation.
Andy is not alone in struggling to find an affordable path to justice. We also see poetic and penniless Shaun (Buggy again), recently divorced Ken (Nicholas Bailey) and Sirine Saba’s Aisha, who travels from Pakistan to be with new husband Riz (Scott Karim) and seeks Gail’s help after he starts abusing her. The play should perhaps be called The Inaudible rather than The Invisible, since at root it’s about people whose voices are being stifled.
But although there are some smart lines and caustic exchanges, the drama isn’t well focused. Apart from the impressive Alexander Gilbreath’s Gail, the characters are sketchily drawn and scenes in which their fantasies spill forth (as when Aisha transforms into Spiderman) feel stilted.
What’s more, a lot of their troubles seem to stem from the curtailment of social services, not legal ones. As a critique of the present Legal Aid system, The Invisible is flimsy.
Until August 15 (020 8743 5050, bushtheatre.co.uk)
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