Improv on a Winter’s Night
It was a cold winter’s night when the Honest Liars arrived to play improv games and entertain the crowd.
Cameron Road was in full swing with road works, and they had finally reached 16th Avenue cutting the entrance off. Some stressful moments for the players finding ways to get to the theatre, but no ‘Road Closed’ sign was going to deter them – or, as it turned out, audience members from having a good laugh.
The heat pump was cranked up, and the bar opened when the first patrons arrived, and it wasn’t long before a near-capacity crowd were seated with drinks in hand, ready for the show. The lights dimmed, and stage lights came up as Matt, the emcee, welcomed everyone with blistering comedy before the Honest Liars players ran onto the stage.
A couple of ‘Categories’ rounds warmed up the players, getting their brains switched into improv mode before the games began.
‘Pocket Note’ saw Ian and Sue planning a wedding in a cemetery. An excellent spot for Goths to gather. However, not all was as it seemed because Mark, the best man after one pocket note, declared he fancied the groom. To begin with, Ian was adamant there was nothing at all amiss, but as the story progressed, it became obvious that he and the best man were more than just friends. Needless to say, the marriage was off.
Kelly, once again, became the ‘Sign Language Interpreter’ as Mark interviewed Ian about his ability to teach otters to knit. The dialogue between them had Kelly in all sorts of weird and wonderful contortions.
It’s no wonder this game is a crowd favourite.
In the ‘Dating Game’, Steve had the option of going out with Tina Turner (Sue), Brett, a politician morphing into a human or Kelly, whose profession was anal bleaching. After a few questions and guessing everyone, he decided that Kelly would be his best bet, although he did ask if he could also take Tina.
The players then lined up in pairs for the ‘Clap’ game. And to be clear, that’s when the players must steal a line by clapping!
The scenes were set with Mark and Brett having Bangkok as their topic, Jon and Steve with ‘shit my pants’, and Sue and Kelly with ‘elephant’.
The stories went from one drunken night in Bangkok ending up in jail, shitty pants being put on a ceiling fan and spraying the room, and an elephant breaking down the front door and squashing Grandma.
Mark, Jon, and Sue were all attending ‘Improvisers Anonymous as they were addicted to brushing their teeth. Ian was the newcomer, and had to guess why he was there…. take a look at the video.
The last game of the night was ‘The Twitch’. This is a game that puts the emcee in the hot seat. So Matt was interviewing for an actor for his porn movie. Each person that arrived had a twitch, and Matt added the twitch to each interview. By the time it was over, he had six twitches (some with verbal additions) that he had to remember. The audience roared with laughter.
On that high note, the show ended, and everyone went home happy. The players had a drink to wind down before wandering off, satisfied they had enjoyed another round of improv games.
Thanks to players
| Brett Ian Jon Kelly |
Mark Steve Sue Matt – MC |
Thanks to
Crew: Fee
Sound engineer: Anthony.
Book your tickets for the next show and join the players for loads of laughs.
1st Saturday of every month.
16th Ave Theatre.
16th Avenue, Tauranga.
Show Starts: 7.30 p.m.
Licenced bar available.
