Brett made this fabulous flyer for our February line-up. Choose a night, or even more than one, and join us.
Tag: Improguise (Page 2 of 3)
February Improv Line up
Improv Explosion – Double Bill
Not gonna lie, after 24 years of improvising it is hard to get my people freshly excited about something I am doing. I keep having fun though, almost every week of my life, but self promotion is becoming more and more of a challenge. My Facebook friends are sick of the weekly invites to our Monday night shows, and I don’t blame them, it is every single Monday night after all.
However, in two weeks’ time, on Monday the 12 October, I am involved in some improv that I can’t help shouting about, from the rooftops (or at least from my blog, and social media).
At 730pm we (Improguise) will be performing some as yet undecided format with our great friend, mentor, magician and master of improv, Chicago based , who is visiting our shores again. But that’s not all. At 9pm Joe Bill and I will be performing an improv duo, because we are completely desperate to be on stage, making stuff up, just the two of us. Honestly, Joe Bill is my wet dream of an improv partner and I can’t believe my fantasy is coming true.
Now, here’s the thing. I have no idea how to tell all of you how amazing this is going to be, or why it would be terrible to miss it. I don’t know what to do to convince you that this is going to be the real (made up) deal.
So I am going to tell you the details, and you can just go ahead and book, ok?
Monday 12 October, Galloway Theatre @The Waterfront Theatre School, 730pm and 9pm
Tickets are R60 per show, or R100 for both. I promise. No strings attached. Ridiculous.
Call, sms or WhatsApp our booking line 0729393351 to book, and spread the word please.
PS. Joe Bill will also be doing one of his amazing improv classes, on Wed 14 October but places are limited so contact to book your spot.
Illness and Inspiration
I have been waiting for the flu to pass. I have that seasonal flu that keeps kind of threatening to get better and then gets kind of worse again. I don’t like being sick, and I think that my immune system is a bit weak from the stinking tick bite fever I had, but more that 4 lines of sick diary is unacceptable, so.
I am trying to focus on some upandcoming good stuff, and the first one coming is this.
What this is is 5 performances of an improv show called impromp2, running at the Alexander Bar theatre at 9pm from Tuesday 19 May to Saturday 23 May. How it’s going to work is, every night I will be joined on stage by a different improviser from ImproGuise and the two of us will perform duets for 55 minutes. Some of us have had brief conversations, or email chats about what we want to do. Others haven’t had even that. All I know is that, with the best improvisers in Cape Town, we are going to make each other look good.
Here is a bit about each improviser that will be joining me, and the night that they share the stage.
1. Tuesdsay 19 May is Brett Anderson night. Brett is a crazy lateral thinker, clever wordsmith, multi-hair-do, Terry Pratchett fan, powerful force of good improviser. I love playing with him. We are going to try out a completely new format. So new we don’t even know what it is called. #nobobisnotinvited
2. Wednesday 20 May is Anne Hirsch night. Anne doesn’t need any introduction. She is her own hilarious brand of kook. Anne and I haven’t spoken yet. I am not scared. She is so funny and crazy and unexpected on stage. And on youtube, and on Twitter. Do not miss this. #iheartAnneHirsch
3. Thursday 21 May is Ryan Jales night. I love playing with Ryan, and it just so happens that the two of us have done some of our finest improv with and on each other at the Alexander Bar. Ryan is a writer, copy writer, comic maker, PR guy, and I think he is the only improv guy in Cape Town who knows how to use his iPad properly. #justsaying
4. Friday 22 May is Carolyn Lewis night. Carolyn was in the first ever TheatreSports course I ever ran, ever, in Cape Town. She is my cougar of comedy, my delicious of naughty partner. She is also gearing up to launch her stand-up career again, and I have had a sneak preview and it is high-larious. #watchthisspace
5. Saturday 23 May is Tandi (Bucket) Buchan night. Oh joy. Oh fun. Oh love of improv. Tandi and I have inherited improv genes. We met, fell in love, and have been married to each other through improv for over 20 years. When Tandi knew we were going to be doing this she sent me an email with 16 ideas for formats. I have no idea how we are going to choose from the crazy thoughts in her brain.
So, there is a lot to choose from. I decided to keep the tickets as cheap as possible so you can come to more than one. But I warn you. They are going to be so good (and different and unique) you will want to see them all.
What about Leon Clingman I hear you say. Well, when I got confirmation to do this gig Leon was away, shooting in Jozi, and all 5 nights were snapped up by people who were actually there. Damn I want Leon all to myself to play with. Leon plays my husband, brother, assassin, mad professor, clown lover like nobody else. I will arrange another run just so I can play with him.
Ok, bookings are now open on the Alexander Bar website and you get R10 off your ticket if you book for it online. And go!
Improv = Happy
Last night was Improguise’s first show of the year and I played. (We play a TheatreSports type format of short form improv every Monday night at The Galloway Theatre at 8pm, call 0729393351 to book). To tell you the truth I was in need of a positive kick. I was feeling a bit glum and very out of sorts (personal stuff). Yes we were rusty, and yes we made silly mistakes, and yes we all found ourselves in various stages of undoneness, but on the whole, and taking everything into account it was pretty fantastic, and I loved being back on the improv stage after a long gap of about two months. It really is the most happy space for me. I love playing, I love the ideas, the laughing, the creativity. I love the audience (last night’s was particularly lovely, even though they liked my team less. I hold onto these things you see.) My team members are like family. We slide into the best kind of support of each other on stage and then give harsh, practical notes after the show. We make each other look and feel good.
We had a guest from out of town yesterday. Bart, a Belgian improvisor did a crash course musical improv workshop with us before the show, and he even played with us as a second musical improviser during the show. It’s always so inspiring to have a bit of an outside shake-up, and this was a goodie. We are all fired up now and ready to launch into our long form musicals, which is just as well, since it is one of our formats for our improv fest, a week long festival of improv at the Kalk Bay Theatre in March.
So, we are back, and I am happy. Come check us out. Every Monday. Galloway Theatre. 0729393351 to book.
New improv (of)course
I cannot believe we are barreling towards the end of the year already. I haven’t even got all my mascara off from last year. Of course, what this means is that it is time for us to be putting together our new improv workshop, which will be starting on Thursday 5 Sept and will run every Thurs until the 24 October from 630pm to 930pm at The Waterfront Theatre School. This course is for anyone with some performing experience, ranging from professional actors, to comedians, to part time performers with a knack.
This blog post is to encourage you to sign up. I know a lot of performers who have expressed an interest in doing the course and then have shut down, for many reasons, but the biggest and most common one is fear. This is something we spend time working on, and it is very liberating. It is also very safe, and very funny. And even if you discover that you never want to improvise on stage again, you will have had fun discovering it.
We are excited for new blood, and are specifically on the hunt for new Improguise company members, since we have expanded what we do, from the usual twice a week TheatreSports shows, to include monthly experimental adults-only improv at Alexander Bar, our very successful long form improv shows (that include period drama, Westerns and musicals), our yearly 2 week improv fest, and our long, long fundraiser Soap-a-thon, taking place this year on 26 October. You’ll notice that that is 2 days after we complete the new course and we are going to be inviting course graduates to make cameo performances in the Soap-a-thon.
So, there are a lot of good reasons to sign up now to do the course. Email me, and I’ll put your name on the Yes I’m In list.