UNITED KINGDOM: Australian theatre group present their latest show at a busy London train station.

It looked like just another busy rush hour at the Stratford station as commuters go about their business, boarding packed trains on their way home. But last month, this station in East London turned into a temporary venue for the 'Back to Back' theatre group. In their latest show, 'Small Metal Objects', the Australian-based group, use the train station as the set for a story of friendship, business and illegal transactions. The play starts when 'Steve' ( Simon Laherty) shares the personal, emotional crisis he is going through with his best friend 'Gary' (Sonia Teuben). Gary in his turn tells Steve he is about to have a knee operation, but promises Steve its a simple procedure. He vows never to leave his friend alone. The tale unfolds at the train station as commuters go by. For the actors, this whole large venue is the stage: they go up and down the escalators, enter the elevators and look at the busy trains come and go. The audience is sat at one corner of the station and equipped with headphones, they try to identify the characters and follow the plot. "It's a play that's designed to take place in chaos and we couldn't think of anything more chaotic than a train station. It's reliant on having thousands of people walking through the performance space that become unwitting extras in the performance", says director Bruce Gladwin. Suddenly, Gary's mobile phone rings. 'Alan' (Jim Russell), a well dressed executive, is in an urgent need for some illegal substances. He has never met Gary and frantically looks for him at the train station, stopping innocent commuters in his search. "The traditional experience of going to the theatre is you inside a building which is a shelter to the chaos. But what we wanted to do is build a show or present a show in chaos," says Gladwin. The venue is not the only unusual thing about 'Back to Back' theatre and their shows. This performance group is driven by an ensemble of six actors considered to have intellectual disabilities. Formed in 1987, Back to Back has created over 27 original works for theatre and eight short films. In 'Small Metal Objects' they tell the story of two men who are considered invisible by the economy-driven society, and their encounter with the desperate executives in need for drugs. The audience never learn whether Gary is indeed a drug dealer, or is it a misunderstanding. His friend Steve refuses to leave his spot at the train station and let Gary get to the station lockers where, allegedly, he keeps his drugs. Gary will not leave Steve alone and even Alan's shrewd psychologist - friend, 'Caroline' (Genevieve Morris), cannot convince the two to help her. The play, presented by the Barbican Culture Centre in London, was created by Sonia Teuben, who says that acting and performing 'feels normal'. "Working on stage is more people looking at you, working at a space like this is you don't take notice that they are watching you," says Teuben who has worked in the theatre since 1993. The showwhen Alan and Caroline leave the train station angrily. Steve and Gary's friendship wins over greed. The audience depart but the set remains untouched at the Stratford train station. "I had no idea you can get away with such great performance in a train station," says David, a member of the audience. Liann, another member of the audience agrees. "Just to take it outside of the normal environment and be somewhere that is so familiar and to be, you know, encountering it in new ways, just the appreciation you have for all these other people who you walking past every day and you ignore them and then suddenly you are forced to look at people and realise that everyone has their own little story," she says. 'Small Metal Objects' has already been performed across Europe in Zurich, Copenhagen and Paris. Next year the play will open in New York - performing at the Staten Island ferry station.

ITN Source | November 19, 2007

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