It\u2019s been a fantastic run of gigs and general improv life this week.\u00a0 Maydays were at the Miller (pub near London Bridge that is fast becoming the London home of improv) on Tuesday, trying out our new Confessions! Show.\u00a0 The idea is to get down and dirty with the audience and extract some juicy anecdotes about love, life, triumph and despair.\u00a0 Then we turn these into magical improv scenes before their very eyes.\u00a0 A disappointing turnout at the Miller, but disheartened we were not, and gave one of our best shows so far this year.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Highlights?\u00a0 Probably the surgeon who had to sing in order to keep a steady hand, and the finest example of a \u201cpush the button\u201d scene I have ever witnessed.\u00a0 A \u201cpush the button\u201d scene is where\u00a0 you find something funny in a scene and you just keep doing it!\u00a0 In this case it was simply that Katie was to do a marathon tomorrow, but Steve was trying to point out that you have to do some training.\u00a0 After about 20 repetitions of, \u201cYou have to train to do a marathon\u201d, \u201cYes but it\u2019s tomorrow\u201d, and various elaborations on this theme, my jaw ached from laughing and the audience were beyond salvation.<\/p>\n
Last night I did a Music Box gig also at the Miller.\u00a0 The room was packed with people which was very gratifying and Fat Kitten improv supplied a riotous first half of Victorian short form.\u00a0 In the second half, Music box improvised an entire musical from a location, an object and a song title.\u00a0 Last night we were on the ski slopes with aubergines, reminded that \u201cWhat goes up, must come down\u201d.\u00a0 From a musical director point of view, this is very liberating to be in charge of the entire music that runs through a show.\u00a0 I find that I am beginning to ascribe musical themes to different characters so that when they come on, I can give a little musical ident.\u00a0<\/p>\n
<WARNING-the following paragraph contains strongly pseudo-intellectual and slightly patronising language><\/p>\n
I believe that Wagner (not X-factor but Richard) was the prime extemporiser of the leitmotif in opera.\u00a0 In his famous ring cycle he repeatedly used musical themes to represent the different characters, weaving the themes together as the characters interact on stage.<\/p>\n
All in all, it was improv that won in the end.\u00a0 I was not quite sure if the characters had realised their dreams, requited their love, or acted out their epiphanies, but the journey was thrilling and magical.\u00a0 Long live improv. Amen<\/p>\n
Joe Samuel.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It\u2019s been a fantastic run of gigs and general improv life this week.\u00a0 Maydays were at the Miller (pub near London Bridge that is fast becoming the London home of improv) on Tuesday, trying out our new Confessions! Show.\u00a0 The … Continue reading