Whilst out in London one evening with some friends we happened to be given some free tickets for an improvised comedy act in a small 'secret' venue called 'The Top Secret Comedy Club'. Luckily for me as part of my degree I had to write a review on some form of 'Arts Event' which this sort of event falls under, so we went to see it, an what a night it was. The reason for my doing this post is this was by far one of my favourite pieces of theatre I have seen in a long time and the group, 'Shoot From the Hip', do not get nearly enough recognition, I thought I would upload this review in the hope that this show might get a little more publicity(not that my blog has many viewers). I understand this isn't the best essay in the world but it gets the message across so go easy on me!
I am a lover of improvised comedy and done well it can be pure gold but done badly it can be an incredibly awkward experience for both audience and player. Thankfully the boys from comedy quartet ‘Shoot from the Hip’ show us exactly how it should be done. Actors Paul.G Raymond, Luke Manning, Tom Mayo and Sam Russell take you on a hilariously clever and witty journey using improvisation games with suggestions from the audience guiding the work.
The performance took place in the carefully hidden underground venue ‘The Top Secret Comedy club’ and was completely free to go and watch (there was the chance to donate at the end and due to the excellence of the performance I had no problem with donating). The space was small, intimate and informal and this was great for improvised comedy, as the audience became part of the performance which made them feel much more comfortable giving suggestions. However this feeling of ease can not all be attributed to the space but what was more comforting for us was the confidence that the boys showed and there chemistry on stage which made for a great comedy experience. The scenes flowed easily and the actors had a great connection with each other and the crowd, even when some audience members were being rather obnoxious and making suggestions, in an attempt to be funnier than the boys. Nonetheless they handled these distraction exceptionally well. When one young audience member gave the suggestion of ‘penis’ as an object, actor Paul.G. Raymond was able to disregard the idea without creating an issue with the audience member. He then quickly moved on to find a less vulgar suggestion.
Keith Johnstone says that using audience suggestions can ‘result in shows in which there isn't one scene the players want to be in’ (Johnstone,1999, pg. 26) However the quartet were able to carefully manipulate suggestions that inspired them (even if they did occasionally “miss hear” what an audience member had said). This meant that all sketches had direction and were generally entertaining to watch.
Now of course the point of improvisation is that it is done on the night so inevitably some things will be great and others not so great. I found most of the scenes to be very entertaining, for example a scene about two gay wizards being persecuted by a group of trolls which came from the simple suggestion of the relationship of a married couple, these scenes that followed from simple suggestions tended to be the best and funniest. My only criticism of the night was occasionally scenes were left to drag on when they had clearly lost momentum. I feel that the boys just needed to know exactly where to finish a scene so the audience didn't become uninterested. However this was a minor issue in comparison to the excellence of the event.
Overall a thoroughly enjoyable relaxed evening that didn’t drain the bank account, especially on a student budget.
So if you get the chance I would highly reccommend going as seeing this group, they perform every Monday in 'The Camden Head' and every Tuesday in 'The Top Secret Comedy Club'. Here is a link to their website!
http://www.shootfromthehipcomedy.co.uk/
Mads x
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