Brad’s impro blog

Guest Blog - Martin Cvelbar

Mon, 24 Oct 2011 19:52:45 +1000

Handing over the Blog to Martin here - he’s a student of mine and a performer with the Harold Club - he did the classes to help with his writing, and has stuck around and performed, though he always claims that _this_ will be his last performance.

I asked him to give some feedback on the the show and he sent this through to me - I thought I share it (with his kind permission). So here it is.

My Experience of the Harold at Brisbane Central Library 8/10/11

I seem to recall someone, maybe Charna or Del, saying that improv performance was something like jumping off a cliff and taking a whole bunch of other people with you. Saturday’s performance was exactly like that for me and I really don’t like heights.

The Climb: I think everyone agreed that the practice wasn’t great but it didn’t succeed because of good reasons not bad ones. Because everyone was enthusiastic to get onto stage, scenes became crowded out with too many players. It was good to know that everyone had each other’s back but unfortunately there were too many fronts to those backs on the stage at the same time. Brad’s feedback on the practice session pointed this out and probably set us right for the performance. The thing that I did in the practice that I liked most was in the scene painting where I said that there were two eyes peering out from the blanket box.

The Edge and Fall: it was when Brad told us what we were doing in the performance that my mind decided to blank out. Even the 100m free abseil in Waitomo didn’t make me do that. It’s not as if I haven’t got nervous before performances previously but I’d never before been attacked so badly by the mind zombies. It was total zombification. It was the kind of zombification that Zen Buddhists aspire to when they become zombies. Absolute blankness. I went outside but I couldn’t speak to my friends and my wife who’d arrived. I muttered some pleasantries and then did circuits between the books and the elevator trying to focus. I went to the toilet and splashed some water on my face. That didn’t do much good either.

The Performance: I was standing off stage thinking, this is it, this is the last time I do this, I get through this and I call it quits. It was lucky that my first entrance on stage during More/Less was a non-verbal part and I got a few laughs for it. I am still puzzled by Brad’s direction in More/Less to be a maniac without obviously showing that I am one and I think I showed my perplexity but I finished it with a good final line (“wish you’d gone for the vegetarian option on Tuesday eh?”). The monologues always do good things for me for generating ideas for the Harold and it was no different this time. It gave me some confidence then for getting on stage with my idea for the scene. Over the three acts I thought it went really well too even though I thought I was playing the wife to Greg’s husband but nobody else did. Again a good last line “alright you can mate with me”. In fact, I think without a doubt it was my best public performance and I was buzzing for days afterwards.

The Montage: I loved the different scenes in the Montage. The jump rope rap off. The chicken nugget caravan scene. The Escape from the Island of Dr. Moreau. The cuckolded husband scene. It was all hilarious.

The Dinner: I had dinner with my friends who’d come along to see the Harold and I was asked how much we’d rehearsed that Harold. Having done so much improve now I find it odd that people think this.

The Moral of the Story? Maybe I have to go completely over the edge to get a good performance.

Improvention 2011 - Part 1

Thu, 8 Sep 2011 16:23:45 +1000

Every year a flood of improvisors plunge inexorably towards Canberra, like lemmings towards a cliff. And like the humble rodents, the improvisors cannot help but answer the call of Improvention.

Instead of a cliff, the improvisors plunge over a precipice involving alcohol and lack of sleep. This is a trial that not many pass, but the smiles on their faces as they are swept to their doom inspire generation after generation to follow in their footsteps.

I arrived in Canberra, or as I call it Ice Station Zebra, 24 hours hours ago, was picked up by a fine gentleman called Troy and deposited at the street theatre. A few quick hellos and I'm into the jam section of the evening.

First impressions - there's a hell of a lot of performers involved in the festival. There's such a huge range of talent, skill and enthusiasm from around the world in attendance just for the jam. This isn't even considering the huge number of people coming in during the rest of the week.

The jam evolves into a mini-showcase of the upcoming convention. Philipe Ortez, Randy and Rama Nichols tear up the house with a Pippi Longstockings scene, Per & Kettil from Sweden do a fantastic musical number (backed up by a bevy of beautiful impro chicks), Nat Bochenski busts out a Jack the Ripper inspired historical scene.

With so many people, it's tough to give everyone a chance to strut their stuff.

Then comes the first night of socialising. A quick trip to a local microbrewery, and a quick round of catch up / try to remember the improvisors name.

Then, back to the palatial apartment that I'll be sharing with the charming and soft spoken Rohan - dangering it up for Tasmania. Honestly, we could fit a family of 5 comfortably in the digs assigned to batching impro-lads.

The next day, after a fine, but enshortened nights sleep, I roused myself and was spirited back to the Street Theatre to give a presentation about the state of Edge Improv. I really didn't know what to say, and being first up in the morning really didn't, help the energy levels of the crowd :-)

This was followed by presentations by Sherbet Underground, Impromafia, Rohan, and oth folks ... I can't remember too much right now. This was also followed by a cool chat with Per (with Kettil providing a soundtrack).

After a dumpling good lunch, with some quick card trading and the like, it was off to my first workshop.

Of course I had completely forgotten which workshops I had signed up for, so as I started my first workshop with Rama Nicholas, a cold chill ran down my spine as I realised that it was exploring romance and intimacy. Two things I don't have a good handle on normally.

I ended up having a great time, even though I had to break my promise to my wife to not song any female improvisors while I was away (though I think I'm still clear on the male front).

That brought me to the end of my first 24 hours in Improvention, but so much more was to come.

Oh boy.

One Night at the Roxbury

Mon, 29 Aug 2011 18:11:01 +1000

One Night at the Roxbury

It's a cool winter Thursday night on the street of Glebe. I am walking to the Roxbury hotel, using my phone to tell me where to go. It's about 13 degrees, which isn't too bad considering the time of year, and I'm really, really excited. I'm getting to perform as part of the Roxbury Festival of Awesome Improv tonight.

Due to crazy shenanigans, I'm in Sydney for the comic convention, but have come down early after arranging to get some stage time with the sydneysiders. Im excited because of the chance to perform with these guys, but fearful of doing a sub-standard performance and sullying the good name of Brisbane impro. I've had bad experiences previously with traveling impro, and am keen to avoid a repeat showing.

But enough about me - I'm only in the late, late show - there are three performances to get to before I get on stage.

I meet up with my friend Ben, who has come well out of his way to come and see me strut my stuff, and we move into the welcoming heat of the Roxbury. Upstairs, I see some familiar faces and say "Hi" to the sydney crowd. Jason Geary is there from Melbourne as well, also for one night only, and there are some great folks to see - Rebecca diunamuno is vivacious as ever, Marko Mustac and her are directing the show I'm in, called 'the conversation'. But that's a fair way off.

First up is a all women troupe called Pink Lady - they do a Harold riff with a director, framed as an independent film. I enjoy it, although there is a moment of confusion in the final act - everyone just breezes past it, so it's cool. I am taking notes furiously during the performance - I gotta mine these guys for new impro tech.

Speaking of new impro tech, the next performance is a format that Jason has come up with called "How About This". It's ingenious in it's simplicity, and comes from a solid base of inspiring the players. So naturally, the players provide some inspired scenes from the ideas.

I am totally going to rip this idea off for my next impro jam.

There's some quality performers on show, and Daniel Cordeaux is tearing the house down (in my mind). Or maybe just tearing my mind down, in the house. There's a particularly old scene about superheroes at high school, where when one young hero lam ants the loss of his wingman in getting a date, another trainee hero flaps his way onto stage - it's wingman, of course.

Overall I really enjoy the show - it didn't threaten to become high art at any point, but it was still great entertainment.

Following this is "The Wishing Tree" and I am very excited about seeing this, as we did the format a few years back, and although I have rehearsed and performed in the show, I have never seen it performed.

I put my wish on the tree, hoping it gets picked, and then settle in to watch.

The players are still settling in to the format, and I think I detect a subtle bit of uncertainty in some sections, but overall these guys know their stuff, and I am very entertained and amused by the performance. Once again, Daniel is kicking the impro ass... I think I've developed an impro crush on him.

The Wishing Tree remains an excellent format - I truly hope we get to do it again sometime soon. The performers pick wishes (written by the audience before the show) from a tree, and make them true (through impro). Wether the wish is to make glances speak volumes or that they don't have to move back with their parents, they go unexpected and sometimes delightful places.

Next up is the show I'm performing in, and the last show of the night. I had been fretting all week about this - I've had a few really bad experience with performing out of the "safety zone" of Brisbane, and although the last interstate show I was a part of was truly a highlight of my performance career (for me, at least, I can't speak for the audience), I still had lingering doubts about how things would go.

It's always tough being injected into a play environment where you don't know the other players, their strengths, foibles and the "metagame" as you were. And they, of course, don't know your style of play.

However, in the end I should not have worried. The show go well, and Marko & Rebecca (the directors) seemed happy with how it went. I was a little reticent to get on stage to begin with, but after a little while I was hogging the stage with the best of them.

The format is "The Conversation" - basically two people (not performers, per se) have a conversation. Previously this had been an interview with a celebrity guest, but this night their celeb pulled out so it was just a conversation between Marko Mustac and Dave Bloustien.

Do some support work for Jason who ends up doing a solo song, somewhat unexpectedly. I then go with my inspiration and start a few scenes... I expect they'll actually go a bit longer than they did, but I guess they told all the story they needed.

I particularly enjoy being a concerned patron at a strip club ("Aren't you cold?! Would you like to borrow my jacket!?!" )

After the show, Marko and a few others comment that it was the best “Conversation“ yet, and I was really happy to be part of it. After a few more back slaps and goodbyes, I help the musician move his stuff to his car (it's the least you can do for someone who adds so much to the show), and head off the Ben's place.

I have a long weekend of selling comics and scmoozing at Supanova to come, and sleep would be great. But I did have a fantastic time and am already looking forward to the week long improvisation orgy that is "Improvention” - coming in just over a month's time.

This festival was a great chance to connect with some fellow impro heads from around Sydney (and Australia), and if the rest of the nights of the Festival of Awesome Improv were as enjoyable as this one, then it can only be considered an unqualified success!

Brisbane is Impro-Keen!

Fri, 11 Feb 2011 20:42:31 +1000

After a couple of months hibernation, the Brisbane impro scene is slowly coming back to life. It's good to be finally shaking off the rust and getting back to work. Or to play, as the case may be.

It amazes me that Brisbane really is a thriving impro metropolis, and even though we pretty much close down for 2 months a year, the passion for improvisation is not dulled.

We've already had the first Harold performance for the year, not one but two Gumball Theatre shows in 2011 (and the start of their Tuesday impro labs), a very cool Impro Gym (with a cross section of the local impro community attending) and my intro workshops kick off in a couple of days. Also Impromafia has already begun their weekly Albion shows, as well as having a full plate of Arts Theatre productions lined up for the rest of the year, and their Speakeasy due to start up again any day.

That's not to mention Playback Theatre's ongoing shows and workshops, and Extreme Team Comedy's jams - and the Sherbet Underground has things planned for the future as well.

At the moment, with the loss of Kitty O'sheas and the Speakeasy venues, we actually have more shows than available venues here in Brissy.

And of course Theatresports Queensland will be running the school competition and their occasional Impro Gladiators show this year as well.

Last year, Robin, an improvisor from Olso visited Brisbane and was blown away by how much we had going on. I think he ended up seeing 5 impro shows in the one weekend.

Impro in Brisbane is alive and well. And I'm keen to play!

It's Good Making Fun of (bad) Impro

Sun, 30 Jan 2011 09:42:45 +1000

As an impro nerd, it's great to see impro being referenced in the mainstream media, outside of the specific shows that use it (like Whose Line Is It Anyway & Thank God You’re Here). Unfortunately, it's usually to make fun of it.

There’s one specific example I remember, from early this century (wow, has it really reached the stage where I can say that?) in a short lived sit-com com called “That’s My Bush”. Put together by Trey Parker and Matt Stone (of South Park fame), it was a spoof on George Bush, (in the short window of time after he was elected but before it became un-American to make fun of him).

I clearly remember an episode where an impro troupe was featured and was lampooned mercilessly. Unfortunately, this series seems to have disappeared into the mists of time, so I can’t find the episode online, but I remember one character being quite scathing about the lameness of impro in general.

Of course, this is true of most things - after all, 90% of everything is crap, as the saying goes.

Having said that, sometimes there are lessons to be learnt from making fun of impro:

Example number 1: I just saw this this week. Conan O'Brien's new show, we have the fake Ted Turner on his stuffed buffalo Ted Junior (I can’t explain, just go with it).

a

Fake Ted actually gives a great summary of what I think makes great impro - building on existing ideas. Of course he then proceeds to do the exact opposite in a amazing piece of bad impro.

Example number 2: Ah Mystery Science Theatre 3000. One of my favourite nerd shows ever - science fiction, comedy, puppets and b-movies all rolled into one. What's not to like? Of course the Joel and the bots would give impro a try at one stage, in series three when they spoof Master Ninja.
Here are the opening skits from the episode:

I particularly like how this little segment skews a whole spectrum of bad impro, from getting terrible offers from the audience, to the bots quickly discussing what they’re going to do before the scene starts, Joel’s lame jokes as MC, and especially all the banter in the “notes” afterwards, where the accusations fly along with the impro vocab. And of course, Frank messes everything up for Dr. F.

That’s all I could find, but if anyone has any other impro parodies they'd like to share, let me know!