Cape Town Festival of Improv part V.

We are just over a week away from performing our 5th Annual Improguise Festival in Cape Town.

i remember being in Americaland for the 1st one and being so fortunate to have an SA visit coincide with the dates and so i was able to play in some of the shows which were then at the Kalk Bay theatre. This year though we have moved to the Alexander Bar in Cape Town which has hosted some of our more dangerous and exciting shows like our two person Duets:

And more.

And this time it’s the scene set for possibly our most courageous festival yet.

We are bringing back some of the tried and trusted formats [athough even those are undergoing some tweaks as we continue to seek to keep things fresh and daring] such as:

Monday will be Naked Improv which is not as nudist beach colony as you might think, but actually means there will be a bunch of Improv actors and an Empty Stage and no set format and so anything goes. Ridiculously scary and satisfying in equal parts and one of my absolute best ways to do Improv, especially with this crew.

Tuesday will see us making up a complete Documentary. Which we have done before and so we will be trying out some new things with it, but again have absolutely no idea what it’s going to be about or much of what is going to take place at all.

Wednesday is The Duets Show where three pairs of actors and actresses will have the stage for twenty minutes at a time and do whatever they find in their minds to do. So somewhat like Naked Improv except that the relationships between the different actors as they play together will be what helps provide the different flavours of scenes.

Thursday is maybe the Most Exciting for us as we debut a Brand New Format which we are calling Tribute Show. Mostly because it is going to be a tribute show. The first half will be interviews and scenes relating to the story of the band that is going to be performing a tribute show to another made up band. The second half will be the tribute band performing some of their songs live. Which means songs are going to be made up on the spot. If you know anything about either music or improv you will know how terrifying the idea of that can be. And by “terrifying” i mean INCREDIBLE!!!

Friday is going to be a Period Piece Drama which is a much loved format of ours and always promises to focus on relationships and secrets and dances and inheritances and should be a lot of old fashioned fun.

Saturday is another brand new format which we are called WestWord where a whole show will be concocted based on one single word. And who knows where that will go?

If you’ve watched a TheatreSports show [our ‘Whose Line Is It Anyway?’ styled shorter games and scenes traditional mainstay] then don’t do yourself a disservice by thinking you’ve seen it all. The festival shows are a completely different ballgame and i would suggest that if you are able you try to come to one quite early in the week because that will very likely make you book for another one. When you watch an entire story made up, beginning an end, from absolutely nothing except perhaps a random suggestion or two from an audience member, then you know that you are witnessing a very special thing.

If you have never even watched one of our TheatreSports shows and have somehow managed to make it this far without watching Cape Town’s Longest Running Live Theatre Show then SHAME ON YOU. Really. But you can put that all right by jumping on to the Alexander Bar Booking page and making your selection[s].

Hope to see you there. You really don’t want to let this one get away from you.