Impro Now - March 2007
Impro now have created a series of three theatre sport shows to entertain the Fringe Audiences this year. They are, “Aaah” Celebrity Scene,
Theatre Sports Heats and the Clash of the Theatre Titans. This production involved 4 teams each vying for the prize of a single minty. The teams were required to play at theatre sports games where they took suggestions from the audience on locations, genres, names and actions they would use in their scene. The teams were created from comedians and actors currently taking part in their own shows in the Fringe.
The venue was fantastic and the audience made a great show for this opening night performance with at least 300 people turning out for a laugh. Straight off the bat audience participation was encouraged and as always the hecklers shone, wasting no time yelling out their suggestions to the players on stage. Traditionally the actors are totally unaware what they will be doing until the moment they step foot in the space, but unfortunately this production was slightly more scripted than this, with all the teams knowing what games they were playing before the show even began – this destroyed a lot of the spontaneity of the piece. Like most genres Theatre sports has had ebbs and flows in its popularity. The most recent spike due to the success of televisions ‘Thank God You’re Here’, but this compilation of sports failed to convince me it was completely unrehearsed.
Successful as the winners of the production and equally successful in popularity with the audience were the “Canadians”. Their lightning fast wit and somewhat left of centre sense of humor made them increasingly popular, triumphant due to their faced paced impro, the audience daren’t laugh in case they were to miss another pearler, but alas these two were just too funny, and even had their competitors in stitches on the side lines.
A great night out, enjoyed by all. A little less rehearsal by the players and a little more by the compare would have helped proceedings, but the audience showed enough gratitude through there applause to convince me the production was a success.
Paul Rodda
