16th ave Archives - Honest Liars Improv

New Stage, New Home.

By hlimprovers | February 23, 2022

The players were excited about performing on a new stage in their new home at 16th Ave Theatre.

The threat of rain was gone as the Honest Liars arrived at the theatre and began inspecting their new home.

Finding an actual ‘Actors’ Room’ with couches and tables delighted the players as it provided the much-needed space for bags and food. Let’s face it one can’t improv on an empty stomach!

Then it was out into the Green Room, onto the Black Box Stage, and the warmups began.

Being in the Red Light level did mean social distancing had to be enforced. Chairs were put out, and as the audience arrived, they were advised to make sure there was a chair between the groups.

Everyone understood and were happy to oblige, including with mask-wearing unless drinking. It appeared the bar made a good trade! All patrons were excited to be going out to a live show, as were the players loving a live audience.

The music was turned up in the last couple of minutes before the show started, and a general hush came over the audience. Anticipation was high from both players and the assembled comedy devotees.

Onto the stage, the Honest Liars ran and there they stayed for the entire performance with individual players playing set games. The first, which included all players, was Questions. The setting was a First Date in a Cemetary. Needless to say, the very first question was a proposal, and the questions tumbled on from there.

Always a crowd favourite, Pocket Note was in a police station. Kim and Brett were the worst criminals, and Sue took on the role of a social working police officer. Notes such as “I’m pregnant” and “Not tonight, I’ve got another appointment” pulled the game from one hilarious direction to another.

Plunging right into the next game, Kathy sent the single lady played by Kelly out into the wilderness so she couldn’t hear what quirks and oddness her three suitors were to have. And when she came back in, The Dating Game commenced.

Mark played an excellent Margaret Thatcher hell-bent on shutting down the miners. Jon, a firefighter, was also obsessed with bunions, and Matt’s hobby was collecting naked Barbie dolls and burning parts of them.

As Miss Kelly started round two of her questions, much to the audience’s delight, a discussion began between Jon and Matt over the fires the Barbie arsonist was creating. It was a hot topic.

When Kelly asked “what would we do if we went out?” Jon quickly answered that he could teach her ladder-climbing to hose direction skills and added that she should wear tight stilettos. Matt simply asked for a lighter, and Mark suggested she come to No.10 as little sleep was had.

It made riveting comedy for the audience and perhaps helped Kelly to finally guess what each suitor’s quirk was (although she did need help with the bunions!).

In the end, Miss Kelly chose Jon for the hose work he obviously was good at.

At the Press Conference, Jon and Brett were confronted about why, being Destiny Church leaders, they would make Prince Andrew their number two. And the Themed Restaurant game was held in a Harry Potter café where owls and wizards flew about, and the menu was definitely out of this world.

Another audience favourite, “Sign Language Expert”, found Kevin interviewing Dr Smiley Jump about his famous marble playing gorillas. See for yourself with this snippet how the players tackled this fascinating subject.