Invasive Species at King’s Head Theatre Review
Maia Novi (Maia) and Harrison Osterfield in Invasive Species. Photo by Danny Kaan
Written by Eloise for Theatre & Tonic
Disclaimer: Gifted tickets in exchange for an honest review
Invasive Species at The King’s Head follows the story of Maia, an actress from Argentina who gets bitten by the acting bug whilst watching The Amazing Spiderman as a child. On her pursuit to become an actress in Hollywood, Maia finds herself mistakenly put in a psychiatric hospital for children while training at drama school in the US. The play takes us through Maia’s motivations, challenges, and desires – blending meta-theatre with fierce physical work, dark comedy, and surrealism. Invasive Species is a visual feast, the stage full of energy at every turn, embodied by five fantastic actors who each have such presence and magnetism.
Maia Novi is both the playwright and plays herself as Maia. She reminds us from the first scene that this is a true story. It’s difficult when watching a true story, and being performed by those who it happened to, not to feel like you’re watching their trauma bleeding out on stage. This can be uncomfortable in moments, but overall was saved by the humour of the writing, and the character work of the wider cast.
The other characters, named Performer 2 through to 5, were played by Kalifa Taylor, Harrison Osterfield, Max Percy, and Ella Blackburn. This play is non-stop for the actors, often playing multiple characters in quick succession. These include teenagers in the psychiatric unit, Maia’s parents, and caricatures of people from the acting industry – a neurotic agent excellently bought to life by Blackburn, and a charming director almost too real in his hyper-portrayal by Osterfield. The five actors work well as an ensemble, giving impressive physical performances, a credit to movement director Beth Gill, director Michael Breslin, and assistant director Maxi Himpe. The moments where the four members of the ensemble support as Maia’s inner thoughts work really nicely – their voices harmonising to form a demonic chorus in wonderful Greek Theatre style.
The writing is clever, and wickedly funny in moments. Especially if you’re in the acting world yourself, there are some hilarious laugh out loud moments which will throw you back to voice class – or, of course, the dreaded attempt to fold up the self-tape backdrop. The humour was sometimes so dry that the jokes didn’t land but rather bordered into self-indulgence. But this is the brave risk with performing your own story.
There are some wonderful thought-provoking moments in Invasive Species which pass comment on immigration, the American Dream, and on what motivates us to achieve our goals in life. During the show, I was rooting for Eduardo to talk, Jacob to be released, and Akila to find her life again - but by the end these smaller stories were lost in the shadow of the protagonist’s, which felt a shame. I came away from the theatre thinking more of the visual enjoyment which the staging and the actors provided, rather than feeling deeply moved or affected by the story.
I had high hopes for Invasive Species given the huge publicity pumped into it - I was excited for a gritty, “75-minute thrill ride” as advertised. Unfortunately, I didn’t come out of the show feeling changed - and with little connection to the characters on stage. It ended up being a 95-minute steady visual feast with little nuggets of wonder from the incredible talent on stage.
Invasive Species is playing at The King’s Head Theatre in London until the 3rd October – check it out to see if you’ll be bit by the acting bug too.
★★★★
