‘Stories from the 428’, the current production playing at Marrickville’s Sidetrack theatre, is vibrant community theatre at play!
The ‘Stories from the 428’ project sees a large pool of local theatrical talent, some sixteen writers, eight directors and fifty actors come together to stage stories based around one of Sydney’s oldest bus routes. The 428 winds its way from Circular Quay to Canterbury via the inner west and appropriately, on its way, stops right outside the theatre. The project has culminated in two full length theatre programs, performed over respective weeks.
This is one of those shows with a ready-made general public audience. Nearly all of us have, at some time, been regular bus commuters, and are easily able to relate to stories based around bus travel.
The season has opened well with a strong first week. Right from the start the audience is swung into bustling commuter mode. Centre stage is a young man handing out copies of MX as people are flying past him in every direction. The next sequence sees the commuters all seated with their heads buried in their papers.
The night featured some fourteen stories. Here’s just a taste from the night. Alison Rooke’s two part story, directed by Zoe Carides and played by Bridgette Sneddon, Felix Gentle, Helena Stamoulis and Adam Demos, about the first stirrings of a romance between a young woman and man who have caught the same 428 for a long time but have never spoken.
Brooke Robinson’s quirky piece, ‘An Advertiser’s Dream’, directed by Augusta Supple and played by Kailah Cabanas and Julian Ramundi, about a man leaning over and disturbing a woman with obscure comments about the advertisements, as she’s reading the newspaper.
I’ll end this piece with one of my own bus stories. As an eastern suburbs person, I’m a veteran of the 324 bus. This bus winds its way from Watsons Bay through Double Bay and Edgecliff to Circular Quay.
My story relates to this eccentric guy who was a regular on the 324 for a time. He was this big, chunky guy who always wore a black jacket and cap. He would get on the bus in one of the stops between Rose Bay and Double Bay and by then the peak hour bus was already standing room only.
Now this guy was seriously wired up with his ipod and his headset. What he would do was to manically bop on the spot to his music in the aisle, totally in his own world. This rapper was free entertainment for the bus passengers. The looks he would get! I wasn’t the only one who ‘cracked up’ just a little watching his routine.
A whole new set of quirky bus stories are to be played out at the Sidetrack theatre, 142 Addison Road, Marrickville, from this Wednesday night, 28th March. The closing performance is Sunday 4th April at 5pm.
