On the evening of 2nd July, I found myself in Clarke
Quay to watch my first ever Improv show. Joeve had undergone improv lessons
with The Improv Company and she was having her
showcase. I am not a person familiar with the form. I guess that is what made
it somewhat exciting even though I was knackered.
The structure of the show was new. It was built entirely of
mini-improvised activities. For example, in "Toast box", they took
turns standing up to take part in a scene, changing every time their director
rang the bell; There were activities where audience's suggestions were polled
for the actors to enact a scene. One favourite was "TV" where a group
of 4 took turns to portray a different genre (specified from the audience) in
pairs.
One aspect that stood out sorely for me in the beginning was the way that the director had managed audience members' responses. There were moments where he rejected their offers, and others just fell when he had not heard them. The problem with this, I feel, is that it stunted audience participation; Audience members started to become unsure if what they had in mind would be what he wanted.
It was confusing initially if the director/host had initially wanted more bizarre ideas or not. Needless to say, many of my bizarre ideas as seen in the picture beside were not chosen.
In the spirit of being constructive, I think one way that The Improv Company can negate this or negotiate better with the audience is to borrow the concept from Family Feud where members of the audience were polled beforehand during pre-show; Set up boards or paper where members of the audience can write ideas based on a topic, for example "weird hobbies" or "exotic gifts". This gives audience members more autonomy to participate and it also gives the director some of that autonomy to make directorial choices to choose from the list.
Stagecraft and Theatricality
Fresh out from the SDEA TAC, I became more aware of the elements of drama in this. It became quite clear that the group itself didn't quite master the instinctive reflexes that came with practice. A lot of the times, there was a certain lack of effort to sustain or develop an idea. And more obviously, many of the members improvised without bringing in different levels onto the stage. Especially when the group's improvisational skills were still raw and most ideas were 50-50, these simple stage craft instincts could have helped sustain some form of dynamic energy to keep it more visually appealing for the audience.
Although, I realise that this element is structured in on later levels of training with The Improv Company. I do hope that The Improv Company rethinks this.
In addition to the actor's personal stagecraft, I feel that there is room to explore in terms of bringing versatile items that could amp up the performance aesthetics. I'm thinking of simple wooden boxes that could become any kind of platform, cloth (like in Playback), or if you want to go green, perhaps even some recyclable items.
Generally, the trip to Clarke Quay to watch The Improv Company was an insightful one because it showed another way a performance may be conducted. I just feel that there is a lot more room for the show to be more dynamic: in terms of strengthening theatrical foundations; and of course making the space warmer and more embracing of audience's suggestions. Perhaps, it does warrant a trip to watch a show by their House Members who have finished their training in entirety.