Brad’s impro blog

Halloween Classic, Melbourne - The final day

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 11:56:42 +1000

Wow... almost forgot to do the last part of this epic.

And I did forget to mention the post show pizza party (or at least trip to the restaurant) with the whole impro crew) which happened after the show on Saturday... this was our first chance to hag with the Australia-wide improvisors outside of performing with them, and it was sweet.

It was actually great to catch up with Nick from Canberra, Patti from Melbourne, and evan Alex from Brisbane, who I almost never see around the traps, but was his usual gregarious self. No punch ups, see! Lou and I stayed on at the St Kilda restaurant with some hard-core impro heads, and really enjoyed just hanging with folk. A lovely time, and a nice late night :)

Sunday started with a really nice sleep in, followed by a god old fashioned BBQ. Once again, this was a great way to catch up with Melbourne impro folk and interact with them as human beings, not just improvisors :-)

The more I found out about the Impro Melbourne scene, the more impressed I was. The structures in place, the keeness of everyone involved, no matter what their experience level or position in the impro hierarchy, was quite inspiring.

EDGE is a small operation, and I’m happy for that (as it’s not my full time job - as much a I would like it to be), but there’s a lot I took away from the dedication and professionalism of the IM folk.

I also used the BBQ as a way of trying to get a handle on Grant, who I had played with on Friday, and I know I was in a team with for the Sunday show. It was really nice... he’s a guy who is really living the dream, is and Lisa’s troupe Explosive Minds have them traveling the world playing impro, and making a living out of it. they are really living the dream. We ended up bonding over iPhone apps, which is both a bit embarrassing and appropriately geeky, as those who know me could tell.

The Sunday night Theatresports show was a bit daunting for me... I wasn’t happy with my performances in the Friday shows, and really wanted to do well and (appropriately enough) have fun.

The show was divided into 3 sections... first up the open challenge (with their “rookie” players), then the Danish Game (a challenge round scored by the audience), and finally the competition with full scoring. To my delight, I was asked to be in the first section, along with a visiting german improvisor and some nice Melbourne folk.

After the first scene I did convinced me I wasn’t the worst improvisor in the world after all, I felt a lot better about myself, and performing at the festival in general. Things went pretty well from there... I did some fun scenes in both the open section and the Danish, and our team did a sing which sent the crowd wild... got to love the power ballad action!

Then Louise and I (who were competing against each other in the Danish) got to watch the big boys play in a very entertaining Theatresports show. A nice way to end a big weekend of impro.

Well, almost end it... there were the customary post show drinks, at the speigeltent. The plan was to go to the bar outside the speigeltent, grab a drink, and then go in and check out the band. It didn’t quite work out that way.

Everyone grabbed a drink, started gabbing, and a few hours later I noticed someone was packing a drum kit into a station wagon. Soon we were being told to leave the bar, as it was closed. So we never got to see the band (well, I suppose I saw the band packing up it’s equipment, technically), but got to hang with some cool impro dudes from around Australia (I got to catch up with Michael from Impromafia as well, which was fun).

Finally, we managed to con Tim from impro melbourne into dropping us back to St Kilda where we were crashing at our friend Claire’s place (Hi Claire!), and our long impro weekend came to a snoozy, satisfying close.

Watching a heap of cool impro was great, performing in some cool shows was fun, but the main thing I took away from the weekend was the great sense of camaraderie shared by not only the Impro Melbourne folk, but form everyone involved in the festival. I can’t wait form next year!

Bit of a blog from lou lou

Mon, 3 Nov 2008 17:20:51 +1000

Wow what an amazing journey Brad and I have been on this weekend from learning new games and formats to making wonderful connections to improvisors from all over Australia and from New Zealand. The vibe that was set at the festival was one of friendliness and an openness to shared improv techniques and experiences. I have to say I think that Patti Stiles is doing a great job of shaping the community in Melbourne and that was reflected in how the festival came together. I think we need to clone her.

My most magical moment was performing in a show called “The Wishing Tree” by Rama Nicholas of Impro Melbourne. Rama is the director and opens the show with a story from Japanese mythology and then presents the wishing tree which has pieces of card tied to it which audience members have written their wishes. Each performer takes one of the wishes and throughout the evening they are read out and a scene is created honoring that wish.

I found this show to be an incredibly uplifting and joyous experience which really honored the audience (which was the main note from the director beforehand) and connected the performers in creating something that was both funny and honest.

Personally the experience was enhanced by performing with wonderfully generous and experienced performers with particular gratitude to Sean from Impro Melbourne who literally pulled me into my first scene and out of my awed and slightly daunted space at the side of the stage.

Edge is looking at putting on “The Wishing Tree” in January I am delighted to say that Rama is very interested in coming up to Brisbane to direct the show as well as teach some general open workshops on the same weekend.

Though I am completely exhausted I am still buzzing from such an amazing experience being down at the festival and having such an inspiring and fun time. It was really nice to meet everyone and I cant wait to go down again next year.

Halloween Classic, Melbourne - Day 3

Mon, 3 Nov 2008 09:14:57 +1000

Saturday. It was our second night of performing in the classic... or rather it was Louise’s second night, but I got to sit it out and watch.

But before we got to that, we got together for some workshop action. It was a good fun time, where everyone was just sharing various techniques and tips from around Australia. We got into workshopping a show for Mezza from Wellington Impro at the end, and then had jut enough time to head home for a bit more rest before the shows.

There were again 3 shows in the programme, starting with Grandpa Willard Bedtime stories. This was a great little show, a directed piece with the director Jason Geary playing Grandpa Wilard, and it was a really nice way to include the director in the show. A nice narrator, some fine acting (featuring Michael Griffith or Impromafia & the Sexy Detectives), and a real audience pleaser.

Next up was “The Wishing Tree” directed by Rama Nicholas. Louise was scheduled to be in this show, and boy was I jealous. This is the sort of show that I formed EDGE to put on.

The basic premise is that the audience gets to write their wishes on a piece of paper tied to the wishing tree. Each of the performers pick a wish off the tree, and they get to grant it (in impro form). There were some great scenes and some lovely performances, but that’s probably covered in Louise’s blog. :)

The final show for the night was Pia Zadora, directed by Liam Amor. However, Louise and I missed it due to going out and catching up with our friend Claire (Hi Claire!). From reports, this show didn’t run exactly as planned (there were some military terms being bandied about - like bustercluck), so I don’t min missing it so much, though shows that fail spectaularly can be entertaining in their own right.

Then we stumbled into bed and prepared to sleep in for our final assault at the impro materhorn that is the Halloween Classic!

Halloween Classic, Melbourne - Day 2

Sun, 2 Nov 2008 09:14:37 +1000

It’s been a fairly bus couple of days involving friends, impro, food and hotel rooms.

But let’s talk about the impro section. We got off to a bad start when we got lost walking to the theatre. It was only a block away!

But after that, everything started going smoothly... it was great catching up with all the various and sundry impro folk from around Australia (and NZ).

I was in 2 shows on the Friday, a New-wave french inspired longform called “Improv Magifique”. It was a pretty fun affair, though I felt very nervous leading into it, and didn’t see too many openings in the proceedings to get involved. I did have fun being a waiter who serve up a puppy, and got to be the village idiot (which became problematic when I had to explain how snails reproduced).

It was pretty entertaining, and featured a guest appearance by Stevie Wonder (very unusual for a French new wave film). I enjoyed having a bike with me at all times, though :)

Then Louise and I (and a cast of about 20) got to do a format called “All Together Now” (but not featuring Jon English), where there were 6 performers, and the rest of us got to be the living scenery. It was great fun, although when I started the first scene as a tombstone, I ended up trapped in an awkward position, and almost put my leg asleep. That wasn’t so bad, but we returned to the graveyard twice more in the longform, and I ended up in the same predicament twice again.

It was a very good show, though and I have loved to see it from the audience’s point of view.

The final show for the Friday was a musical longform called “Fortune”. It was a good show, but after appearing in 2 shows I felt a bit of impro burnout, and was looking forward to the end.

I missed out on the party on Friday night, as we needed to get some rest after our epic journey and performance schedule (well, it felt that way).

At the end of Friday night I went to bed feeling a bit iffy about my performance and sad that I was missing the post show party. Luckily, even though I wasn’t performing on Saturday, things turned around for me quite a bit then.

Halloween Classic, Melbourne - Day 1

Fri, 31 Oct 2008 15:07:45 +1000

Guess I’ll get on to the final day of the impro fest one day. But now it’s time for another impro tour diary, with all fun of being there, but without having to experience the public transport.

Actually I don’t have too much to report so far about the tour if you can call it that. Me and Louise are down in Melbourne for the “Halloween Classic” impro fest style event put together by Impro Melbourne. It’s shaping up to be a great fun time... we caught a train to the station straight after work yesterday, and finally collapsed in our room at midnight last night - but it was a hell of an adventure!

We’re just in our room, overlooking the scenic St Kilda parking lot, catching a couple of hours rest before we have to head off and perform.

We did do a bit of shopping today, which was fun, and I got a great outfit for the “Improv Magnifique” show I am doing tonight. It’s basically a red beret, and a woman’s turtle neck jumper thats tight enough on me to look like a skivvy. I’ll attach some pictures of that tomorrow.

By some twist of fate, I am performing in 2 shows tonight, Improv Magnifique and All Together Now, while Louise is only performing in All Together Now, and is doing another show tomorrow, called The Wishing Tree. Checking out the formats, I think she has the better run!

I was a bit disappointed when I found I would be playing scenery in “All Together Now”... but on the whole, it’s probably for the best considering how tired I am and the fact that I’ll be performing in another show minutes before!

So, how will it turn out? Will Louise and I sully the good name of Brisbane Impro, or will it be champagne and flowers for all? Will there be a punch up between us and Alex & Michael from Impromafia, and how would we overcome the height difference? Will anyone show up to the workshops tomorrow without a hangover?

Stay tuned for our next exciting episode to see!