INVISIBILITY and the concept of Liminality

Invisibility features several vignettes set in public spaces, such as a park and a public toilet. In these public spaces, the characters perform very private and personal activities, such as intimate conversations with strangers, appreciating art, and even sex.

There is a palpable tension between the public and the private in these spaces which is referred to as liminality. Liminal spaces are the places of ambiguity, where we transition between the public and the private. In the in-between, where the lines blurred, all bets are off and the possibilities are endless – ideas, art and culture can flourish.

Excerpt from Invisibility (page 48):

Two cubicles in a public toilet. D is writing graffiti. He finishes and as he leaves, Man enters. He occupies a cubicle, sees graffiti.

 M:          Wah! So many essays!

Public toilet graffiti, or latrinalia¸ is especially interesting because of its location. In a space meant for a base bodily function (waste production), the highest forms of human creativity can be found. Latrinalia.org is a website which documents toilet graffiti art from around the world.

Latrinalia is one ‘category’ of graffiti; others range from crude scribblings to simply breath-taking works of art. Here’s a list of 20 beautiful pieces of street graffiti art.

Yet, liminal spaces are also temporary spaces. This in-between-ness is fleeting – liminality dissipates once we leave the space for the public or the private.

Excerpt from Invisibility (page 49-50):

A:            No such luck for me here. All the essays here are gone. The paint’s not even dry yet.

M:          Too bad.

Excerpt from Invisibility (page 56):

M:          Wish I could disappear from the world.

A:            How?

M:          Go and hide inside the toilet!

A:            Toilet?

M:          Shut the door, and you can cry, laugh, be sad, be happy, be angry, be depressed – and no one would know.

A:            And never come out again?

M:          Of course not lah! But at least there’s a moment of peace.

The play Invisibility conveys that in our urban lives, we are normally invisible: In private, we are totally separated from society (see Invisibility and the Hermit Life); In public, we disappear into the crowd:

Excerpt from Invisibility (page 38):

M:          You’re right, it’s too damn crowded, too noisy. Everywhere I go I’m enveloped by music.

W:          And then you start to lose track of everything. Start to forget everything. Forget the clothes that people wear, their face, their smells…

But perhaps it is in liminal spaces that we can become visible. Would you consider theatre to be a liminal space?

Published: 20 May 2015