A man walks into a bar and reads a newspaper. A woman walks into a bar and hits him over the head. There's no punchline, and the joke is on us in this shambolic piece from Station House Opera, which promises a theatrical event performed in real time across two continents but offers only incidental pleasures.
It works like this: the British audience - wearing headphones through which the dialogue is amplified - sits in the Soho theatre bar and watches scenes being performed and videoed. Meanwhile in Rio, an audience watches a performance, too. The shows have a bearing on each other, and audiences in each country can see the other scenario via a video link, and can sometimes watch each other, too. To be honest, watching each other is the most entertaining part of the proceedings, not least because at the performance I was at some people in Soho had friends in the audience in Rio, and everybody waved happily at each other.
It passed the time, because what Station House contribute in terms of the dramatic scenario is negligible. The reactions of those passing the bar are more interesting than anything the actors do inside. There is occasional interest when what is happening in London and what is happening in Rio collide, and the actors many thousands of miles apart appear to react to each other. But Station House has explored this mix of live and filmed action with much more dramatic tension and wit in Roadmetal, Sweetbread; the fact that it is happening in real time and continents miles apart is gimmicky rather than essential. Add to this some dodgy technology and you have something so insubstantial that it makes Lyric Hammersmith's current show Contains Violence seem like a masterpiece.
· Until Sunday. Box office: 0870 429 6883
