Review: The Intrusion

The Intrusion takes one of our darkest fears and forces us to consider what we would do if we had only moments to live before the apocalypse.

Devised by Bric à Brac Theatre and Told by an Idiot, it is humorous in places, dark in others but thought-provoking throughout.

At its heart is a group of survivors, The Intrusion, hidden underground and waiting for their chance to regain power back on the surface where the rest of humanity has perished.

Cecille (a quite superb Siobhan Cha Cha) is the leader, powerful and cruel and totally self wrapped up in her own importance and sense of entitlement..

Regularly humiliating and belittling her cohorts Chesney (Kitty Devlin) and Heidi (Alex Hinson) she becomes ever more power-crazed as the day of reckoning gets closer.

The caricatured military uniforms are a nice touch and allow Cecille to flounce around with her oversized medals and voluminous cape to great effect

But it is not all plain sailing, food and water run low and the arrival of a lone survivor Ava (also played by Alex Hinson) from the surface throws everything into confusion.

The Intrusion is only 60 minutes long but an awful lot is packed into that hour and I challenge anyone to come away without being moved to consider what climate change and the failure of governments to tackle it means for humanity.

The set is cleverly designed with objects being moved around and used in different, very inventive ways.

What I particularly loved was the captions projected at the back of the set. They worked brilliantly and added rather than detracted from the storytelling. My theatre-going companion and I are both hearing impaired and it was so lovely to be fully immersed in the show and not miss out on any of the witty dialogue.

As the end draws near a lot of what has been happening makes sense and the mantra ‘We were here first, and we will be here last’ becomes clearer.

The Intrusion is touring until the end of the month and I urge you to see it if you can.