The publicity material and programme notes for this combined production by Vancouver's Axis Theatre and Touchstone Theatre promises much. There is mention of gutwrenching laughter, intelligent humour and comic triumph.
The appearance of six identikit, grey-faced, greysuited business men, carrying folded newspapers and mobile phones, automatically piloting themselves through the morning rush hour on the Number 14 bus bodes well.
There are hints that, beneath the bureaucratic grey, other, intriguing personalities lurk and one awaits eagerly the next stage of exploration. That takes the form of a breakneck procession of masked and slapstick characterisations of the daytime and night-time passengers. On and off the bus they go at breakneck speed - giggly schoolgirls, hippies, dirty old men, out-of-work actors, graffiti artists, punks, exploding upon the packed first-night audience with astonishing physical and verbal virtuosity, but little subtlety or coherence.
The combined sense of random and routine are given only fleeting examination and the humour relies far too much on repeated visual references to grubby underwear and bodily functions.
Until today, with a matinee at 2.30 p.m.
