Giant Invisible Robot

Simply put this is one of the best solo shows, hell it’s one of the best pieces of theatre that I have seen in a long, long time. As close to a perfect show as one can get.

It’s about a lonely, abused boy and a Giant Invisible Robot.
Did he invent the robot? Is it real? What is real? Does it matter? (No.) But you decide.

Brilliantly written and performed by Jayson McDonald (and smartly directed by Scott Holden) I laughed until I was almost sick and then McDonald deftly reached out and broke my heart.

McDonald/Holden dare a lot here, it could oh so easily go just too far, and how they manage to keep its wildest excesses from falling into the bog of “Oh now it’s just stupid!” I’m not really sure, but the piece never falters for an instant. (The pastry scene is just one example of how far out over the edge McDonald can live without falling. So too the “stay in school” scene, “General Panic”, the list goes on.)

For a start the psychology of the characters is well observed, and each is filled out just enough, those that need to grow, do.

McDonald’s physical prowess (watch him put his feet up on a desk that isn’t there!) and vocal control (the Boy, the woman upstairs, the G.I.R.) are so matchless that the performances seem effortless, and his instincts are laser sharp.

And he’s fearless. An utterly committed fearless performer (and writer.)

One last thing – when McDonald reveals the Robot, if you don’t see him, if you don’t believe in his reality as the young boy/man in this play does, if you don’t feel his pain and loneliness, then you should weep, because the child within you is truly dead.

And that would be an unbearably sad thing.