Monday, September 13, 2010

The Wheels on the Bus

During my travels and constant relocating, I've become a regular on several public transport routes over the years: 99N to Monte Mario in Rome, the Red line to Rogers Park in Chicago, the 431 to Sydney's CBD. This love/hate relationship with public transport has always been pretty darn colorful. For better or worse, I'll never forget the "Peace, love and bubblegum" guy in Chicago or the old Italian pervert in Rome. And I'm sure anyone who's traveled this way has a few experiences of their own. 

Actual photo from a bus in Rome...ahhh, just how I remember it!
I recently saw a production titled "Stories From the 428," which brought these stories to the stage and took viewers on a virtual ride through one of Sydney's many public transport routes. But really, these stories are not unique to Sydney, as anyone who's ever ridden a bus knows.

The following is a review I wrote for a publication here in Sydney, which is basically copy/pasted in its entirety. I was going to write a separate blog on the show, but this basically sums it up. For those of you in Sydney, it's playing again this weekend. Highly recommended!


Next Stop, Sydney Fringe Festival: “Stories From the 428” delivers loads of talent
Public transport is the great equalizer. Within this moving bubble of society, lawyers and construction workers, students and professors enjoy equal-opportunity amid the jostling of a cramped bus. It’s a community’s lifeline upon which commerce, education and business depend. 
To celebrate this democracy on wheels, a group of playwrights, directors and actors have created “Stories From the 428”, which celebrates the good, the bad and the funny of public transport. After a successful run earlier this year, an abbreviated version is now showing at Sidetrack Theatre in Marrickville in conjunction with this year’s Sydney Fringe Festival. 
For anyone who’s ever sat on a bus and wondered what that guy with the iPod was listening to, why that lady is staring at you, or when those screaming school kids will get off — this play is for you. The concept is brilliantly simple. Local playwrights boarded the 428 bus — which runs from the touristy Circular Quay through to Canterbury via Sydney’s lovably-colorful Inner West — for a firsthand look at this mobile community. The result is a production that injects some soul into otherwise everyday scenes. This day-in-the-life of a city bus is punctuated with stories about secret crushes, overzealous STA enforcement officers and children who just won’t shut up. 
The show opens with a choreographed movement of sorts — hurried commuters clutching their morning paper, burying their faces behind the pages, silently ignoring the throngs of strangers among them. This silent dance doesn’t need a punchline, or even words, to be induce laughs. It’s simply funny because it’s true. 
There’s the quirky young uni student, played by Felix Gentle, who silently pines after the stranger a few seats down (Bridgette Sneddon). His incessant admiration creeps into stalker-status at times, but he’s just so lovable that it doesn’t seem to matter. 
In another scene, Stephen Peacocke turns up the volume and turns on the laughs as the music-loving junkie with affinity for everything from old-school classics to obscure gems. His adrenaline-pumped outbursts are just a bonus to the pitch-perfect writing.   
The audience is taken on a virtual ride inside the mind of a crazy commuter (Daniel Nemes) who dreams of scaling the poles like monkey bars and busting through the emergency escape, an apparent metaphor for breaking out of the rat race of life. Maybe the fast-talking and quick-witted Nemes isn’t so crazy after all. Maybe we’ve all been there. 
Indeed, we can all see a bit of our neighbours — and ourselves — in the characters of 428. It’s this blurry line between us and them that gives the production its soul. One thing is certain, after seeing “Stories From the 428”, you’ll never look at your fellow commuter the same again.

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