Evahisseurs (Invaders) – Traverse Theatre

Part of Edinburgh’s Manipulate Festival 2024, Evahisseurs is a one-man show directed and performed by Olivier Rannou for Compagnie Bakelite.

With tongue firmly planted in dead-pan cheek, Rannou shows that language is no barrier at all as he clowns his way wordlessly but very effectively through this short but nicely formed nostalgic, alien invasion caper. With little more than a table, and a handful of props, Rannou weaves his unlikely story, with just the hint of a glint in his mischievous eye!

Featuring UFO abduction, human experimentation, dog decapitation and exploding jelly aliens, there are certainly plenty of laugh-out-loud moments. Rannou’s actions are nicely backed by a prerecorded soundtrack of weird and wonderful sounds and a miniature screen with scratchy black and white images of flying-saucer B-movies playing on a 4-inch modified oscilloscope screen on a table sets the scene perfectly.

For those of us of a certain age who remember peering fearfully from behind the sofa at Forbidden Planet, The day the earth stood still or War Of The Worlds the nostalgia and weird humour of Rannou is a great mix.

I get the feeling that the enthusiastic audience would have happily watched this for longer and the short set does feel a little mean. Perhaps the overriding feeling is one of a ‘work in progress’, but there is no doubting the comic ability of Rannou and with a bit more work this could be something really special.

Reviewer: Greg Holstead

Reviewed: 4th February 2024

North West End UK Rating: