REVIEW: A.I.M (An Invisible Mission) at Etcetera Theatre 1 – 3 August 2025

‘Shady goings on in the secret life of a spy’ ★★★

A man sets out on a spy mission. What follows is a series of adventures, with a car chase, fight sequences, surveillance operations and much more. But what is real and what is imagined, and is the mission as high stakes as the man believes?

Bai Zhijun’s exceptional mime, sometimes playing two characters at once, and Jess Perry’s creation of a plethora of sound effects using everything from a balloon to an electric razor is what this show is all about. Their co-ordination and timing are impeccable. There were lovely moments of humour which lifted the show and some very clever visual moments.

While the mime was excellent, and the creation of sound effects in full view of the audience was cleverly done, the story was sometimes unclear and did not always hang together. The odd bit of narration did help, although there didn’t seem to be a logic to when we were given narration and when we weren’t.

I was craving more interaction between Perry and Zhijun, as on the occasions this did happen it was very effective. The show had little variation in pacing or tension, which no amount of clever mime or sound effects could cover up, but this is easily fixed with some sharper direction.

As with all experimental theatre, some of it worked and some of it didn’t. I hope the company continues to evolve the piece, as there is something very special that remains to be discovered in A.I.M.

Photography: Charlotte Levy (top of page), Ben Wilkin (above)

A.I.M (An Invisible Mission) at Etcetera Theatre (part of Camden Fringe)

Dates: 1 - 3 August 2025

Performer: Bai Zhijun, Jess Perry

Box office link: https://www.citizenticket.com/events/etcetera-theatre

Reviewer: Srabani Sen

Srabani is a theatre actress and playwright. As an actress she has performed at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse (The Globe), the Arcola, Southwark Playhouse, The Pleasance and numerous fringe theatres, in a range of roles from Shakespeare to plays by new and emerging writers. She has written several short and full length plays. Her play Tawaif was longlisted for the ETPEP Finborough award, and her play Vijaya was shortlisted for the Sultan Padamsee Playwrights Award in Mumbai.