The Improv Show

What do you do when the character options the audience shouts out are: an axolotl (you’ve never heard of it), Kirby (you’ve also never heard of it), and a dolphin shaver (What!)? You improvise, of course. These were the actual suggestions from the crowd, who seem to have wracked their brains for deliberately absurd possibilities, the final choice of character for the show being decided by clapometer. The winner, “dolphin shaver,” set the delightfully madcap tone for the entire show.
From the very first scene, this young cast embrace every offer made onstage, no matter how outlandish, building on one another’s ideas with infectious enthusiasm, delivering a masterclass in the classic “just say yes” principle of improvisation for drama students everywhere. The result was a completely zany show, which somehow contained a plot arc, character development and a full original score. Hilarious chaos.
And so, to the music. That such a youthful cast have the ability to improvise songs with structure, rhymes and harmonies puts the rest of us mortals to shame. However, the three part band were unsung heroes of this show who, by some witchcraft, knew exactly when to start playing a new tune, and when to wind it up. In one lovely moment of spontaneous collaboration, an improvised lyric spoke of needing to ‘go higher,’ and in the next musical phrase the band switched to a higher key.
Special mentions must go to the performer who embodied ‘Speve’ (I think he was called), the 22 legged spider, for consistently excellent one liners, and the performer who played the bearded dolphin for excellent comic timing and a dry sense of humour.
Woohoo moment: There were two…‘A cross between a web and beard, it’s called a weird,’ and the moment of the dolphin’s long, long unrolling beard. Obviously, this will mean nothing to you, dear readers, since every show is different, but these were hilarious moments.