Improv! I have been doing a 12 week “level 3” improv course with AndAlso, the corporate offshoot of The Maydays and premiere Brighton-based improv nexus, and Wednesday was our debut performance.
I’ve only done improv live on stage once before: as a made-up film director at a live recording of the Improvised Movie Director Podcast.
Level 3 is The Armando, named after 90s satirist turned milquetoast liberal Armando Iannucci. [1]
How it works: one of the improv troupe tells a true story, based on a suggestion from the audience. (hopefully not “Penis”).
The troupe then improvises scenes based on things they’ve noticed from that story: themes, settings, memorable turns of phrases, or emotions, without simply acting out the story.
This bit is not true.
“Remember,” said our teacher, Jules, before we went on. Front of the stage, monologue: truth. Rest of the stage: nonsense”.
Our first suggestion was “fire”, and Ryan immediately waltzed to the front of the stage, and for good reason: not only was his dad a fireman, his surname is “Burns”.
Ryan’s opening monologue was true, funny, and full of the petty disappointments of childhood. It set the scene well, and tricked the audience into thinking we knew what we were doing.
After a shaky first five minutes, that trick, an essential one for all successful live shows, remained in place. We visibly relaxed, stopped throwing too many ideas into a scene, and started to enjoy ourselves.
As previously discussed, tend to walk onto stage with a fairly blank mind, with little idea of what I’m going to say or who I’m going to be.
Still, I threw myself straight on for the first scene, before anyone else, as I sensed some early nervousness.
Selma joined me from the other side of the stage,
Our show ended with a blackout after Polly’s “Knock Fucking Knock”, a callback to Ed knocking and saying “ding dong” earlier – whether intentionally or by mistake, it brought the house down.
I like my troupe. I hope we do many more shows.
[1] Fine, it’s named after a different Armando.
jamesofwalsh 