NEXT WORKSHOP: TBA

NEXT SHOW: SATURDAY 1st FEB

ENGAGE US TO ENTERTAIN YOU

Tag: show

Springing Back Onto The Stage
Springing Back Onto The Stage.

Springing Back Onto The Stage.

By |

Springtime! The first show heralding in the warmer months, and the players sprang into action.

The Honest Liars were in fine form and delivered an excellent selection of games to the receptive audience. Emcee Jon buoyed up the mid-sized (once again competing with the All Blacks, who finally had a win) audience beginning with a very concise lesson in clapping. After the quick-fire round of categories to wake up the players, the show got down to business with the first game of ‘Pocket Note’.

The suggestion was organising a birthday party which saw mother Sue dealing with her two delinquent children, Steve and Kelly, as they argued about whether to have a pirate or cowboy party. After picking up a note, Mum told the children, “mum is dying”, which definitely put a different slant on the proceedings. Her instructions (another note) to her boy, Steve, was to say at her graveside “what’s that smell?” had the audience in fits of laughter. Timing is everything with this game, and the notes produced a wonderful storyline.

improv comedy pocket note

The Honest Liars played the ‘Jailbird’ game for the first time on stage. One player (Sue) was sent out of the room, and the audience suggested why the criminal Sue had just landed in jail. In this case, it was for punching Serena Williams in the face while at the South Pole.

Sue was then brought in and thrown into a cell with two others. By way of clues, she had to figure out what she’d done.

See for yourself:

 

Another audience favourite, ‘Sign Language,’ saw Kevin interviewing Dr Shorty McSqueeze (Brett) about his expertise in teaching tigers to pole dance. This had Kelly, the sign language interpreter, in all sorts of poses as Dr McSqueeze explained how he found the tigers moving around the skinny trees of Borneo chasing monkeys. The tigers made an easy transition to the poles. His idea was to take the pole-dancing tigers on tour. Of course, they wouldn’t be paid money as there would be plenty of food with the audience because there’d be no cage. Mind you, Dr McSqueeze hadn’t thought it through as the interviewer pointed out he’d start to lose audience numbers as time went on.

Kelly was up and down, squeezing and twirling as she interpreted this overly descriptive story.

Improv Game Sign Language

Finishing off the first half was the ‘Emotional Symphony’ in which the players were given an emotion to verbalise. Jon then conducted them just like an orchestra, from which he created a rousing musical composition. The audience well received Kevin’s interpretation of a horny emotion. However, as the symphony increased in speed, he didn’t have much time to catch his breath, bringing the whole game to a wonderful climax which delighted those watching.

Comedy Improv Emotional Symphony

With the audience refreshed, the second half began with ‘Rant and Rave, ’ one of which saw Brett and Kevin discussing the good and bad side of Teachers. It was a subject that brought out all those boyhood traumas of getting the strap from vile teachers but flipping it to raving and seeing that the strappings weren’t so bad.

The fun of the ‘The Cube’, in which four stories are told in one hit, had the audience in stitches as each tale evolved. But the highlight was when Sue used the enlarging ray on one particular area of Jon, who came back to complain that it had grown to 15 feet and could she shrink it. By the third (and final) round, it was apparent that Sue’s aim was far from accurate. She’d shrunk his feet instead, and he still had the enlarged and extended member that even a car had run over.

Comedy Improv The Cube

The last game of the night was a Vampire ‘Themed Restaurant’. Kevin and Fee were celebrating an anniversary, but it appeared the staff were genuine horror characters. They should have known that it was real because the first drink, a bloody Mary, was made from blood. Ghouls, vampires and monsters came back and forth to the table for various reasons until finally, one vampire bit into Kevin’s neck. Before Kevin had a chance to do the same to his wife, a steak was plunged into his back, and he collapsed. Of course, Fee still had to pay the bill.

Comedy improv Themed Restaurant

The show ended with everyone enjoying not only the drinks from the 16th Ave Theatre bar (thanks to the bar staff) but a fun-filled evening of great games by the Honest Liars.

Thanks to players

Brett
Kelly
Sue		 Steve
Kevin
Jon

Thanks to..

Crew: Fee and Sally
Sound engineer: Summer.

Springing Back Onto The Stage Springing Back Onto The Stage

 

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.

book now

Competing with the All Blacks
Competing with the All Blacks

Competing with the All Blacks

By |

Numbers were down at the show simply because the show was competing with the All Blacks and the dreaded lurgies attacking those hearty followers.

With one player out due to suspected Covid (update: thankfully not) and another called away, the Honest Liars roped in one of the newbies and one from the crew to make up a full complement of players on stage.

Matt stepped up as Emcee for the first time and proved his excellent improv skills easily spilt over into the job. The audience was slightly reduced because of the nasties floating around the community. On top of that, there was the All Blacks’ game against the Irish. Who can compete with that! But those who were there enjoyed an evening of improvisation comedy, and the laughs were abundant.

This was a special show as all the proceeds were going to Gender Dynamix and Rainbow Youth to help rebuild their building which had burned down after a vicious arson attack.

Balloons, flags and paper umbrellas adorned the room to make the evening more festive.

support for rainbow youth

With the open bar and the audience warmed up by Matt and the first game of ‘Categories’ warming up the players, it was straight into ‘Limited Words’ where newbie Steve was assigned eight words, Kevin three and Sue one. The three of them were planning a Bar mitzvah with their limited words. With just one word, Sue got out “snip” as she had confused the Bar mitzvah with a Bris – easy to do. And like any grand celebration, there was more than enough food resulting in stomach troubles for all.

improv limited words

After the Bar mitzvah, the players went into the game ‘The Good, the Bad and the Ugly’. Three players advised how to overcome getting old, find a boyfriend and stop your dog pooping on the floor.

‘Foreign Film Dub’ was a Russian film about Aubergine capitalism. Ian and Kelly’s translations were wildly outrageous as Sue and Kevin played out the crashing rouble and the rise of the aubergine as the new currency. All of it went horribly wrong as the aubergine turned mushy in Kevin’s pocket.

improv game foreign film dub

The crowd favourite of ‘Pocket Note’ saw Ian, Sally and Sue planning a trip to Japan with the Squid Games being high on the agenda.

Watch the snippet to see what happened.

 

 

Kelly was excellent at guessing the contestant’s quirks on ‘The Dating Game’. As the erotic coin collector, Kevin had to ward off Ian, who had an erogenous zone on his nose. Sally had the idea she was a pot plant and wasn’t too happy when Ian thought he saw some sooty mould on her leaves.

‘Hollywood Director’ saw Brett making the players act out his blockbuster movie “The Honest Liars go to the Zoo” in various themes. From playing their roles as ants, being synchronised swimmers, and being Vikings on the Moon, the players had to keep to the “script” but certainly improvise the scenes.

improv hollywood director

The show wrapped up with another visit to the ‘Themed Restaurant’. This time it was set in Hell, a wickedly evil place for all sorts of food and beverages, wacky waiters, and a bill paid off by eternal damnation.

As it was a chilly night, the players stayed in the theatre for after-show drinks. This meant they were also able to mingle with some of the audience.

Thanks to players

Brett
Kevin
Sally		 Sue
Ian
Steve

Thanks to the Crew: Fee

testimonial

 

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.

book now
The Show Must Go On

The Show Must Go On

By |

A few fingernails were bitten in trepidation for the Easter show, but the players all agreed that the show must go on.

Not only had many locals (and players) left town, but the Jazz festival was in full swing. By the Sunday evening, the jazz goers were winding down after a full-on weekend, so it didn’t look hopeful that there would be an audience.

Never ones to be defeated, the players arrived at the Jam Factory, and after setting up the chairs, warming up the vocals, there was just enough time for a quick bite to eat before the audience arrived. And, yes, ticket sales had happened, so people were expected.

the show must go on

Just before the show began, loud music threatened to drown out any narrative. A rock band was giving a concert on the lawn outside the Mood lounge opposite the Jam Factory. A quick discussion and the players agreed

The Show Must Go On!

Board games and Horror films were the first suggestions for the game of ‘Categories’ in which it was decided that ‘Frozen’ was not a horror film!!

The ‘Themed Restaurant’ was set in the Rocky Horror Show where Kevin and Sue were celebrating their anniversary. The staff came to their table with lines of “The sweet is Transvestite” “On the menu is Dr Frankfurter”, and one waiter brought in the Time Warp song by jumping the table to the left.

A new game for the audience was ‘The Twitch’. This saw Kathy interviewing people for a job at a gas station and taking on their mannerisms. You will see how that worked in the snippet video below.

 

 

‘He Said, She Said’ was another new game and saw Kelly and Brett as plumbers in the public toilet. Brett was the seasoned plumber who could dive in with hands and grab the shit out without blinking, whereas Kelly, the apprentice, had to suit up with shoulder-high gloves. In fact, she put on a second pair just to be absolutely sure.

Improv He said she said

‘Pocket Note’ was back and saw Brett, Kelly and Matt on the Moon for a bachelor party. Looking for strippers was quite an ordeal, but with lines (given by the audience) such as “Thou shalt not shag the bunny”, “My girlfriend looked good in that too,” and “Get the cooking oil” proved to be pivotal to the story. The players couldn’t have asked for more perfect notes.

The show ended on an absolute high and the game ‘A Day In The Life’ had one audience member, Jayden, telling the emcee, Kathy, all about his birthday, which had finished with coming to the show.

The players then played out the day with Jon as Jayden being woken up by Mum, Kathy and Grandma, Kelly.

Day in the life improv game

Three naps, a scavenger hunt and family coming for a party had all the players offering a hilarious rendition of Jayden’s day. The large table that grandma had made had many players carefully trying to fit it into the small space, then Brett, playing a double door fridge, was brought in as the gift from mum.

The fridge turned out to be a small beer one! But the table was definitely large.

Thanks to Jayden and his family for providing the players with a great story to tell (and sending photos of the real things).

Finally, the curtain came down (metaphorically), and as the audience filed out, it became apparent that the competing music band had been zoned out, and the show was a success.

Mood lounge was still open, so the players wandered across for some snacks and a drink before heading home to the respective beds.

after the Honest Liars Improv show

ANNOUNCEMENT!

The Honest Liars have been invited to perform an hour-long show at the Auckland Improv Festival!

If you’re in Auckland Sunday 25th April the players will be at The Covert Theatre in Ponsonby. You can book your tickets here:   FESTIVAL SHOW

Thanks to players

Kathy
Kelly
Ian
Brett		 Sue
Matt
Jon
Kevin

Thanks to the Crew:

Fee and the players!

And thanks to Jayden, his mum and sister for a delightful story.

 

The next show at the Jam Factory is on Sunday 2nd May 7 pm hot on the heels of the Auckland Improv Festival  …  FESTIVAL SHOW

Book your tickets for our regular show, have a drink at Mood Lounge first, then join the players for loads of laughs.

1st Sunday of every Month
Jam Factory, Historic Village
Show Starts: 7 p.m.

book now

honest liars improv
The Lead up to the Christmas Show.

The Lead up to the Christmas Show.

By |

Leading up to Christmas and final show, the Honest Liars were able to squeeze in a couple of ‘one-offs’.

In both cases, the shows were so successful that the players were asked for a repeat performance in 2021. Obviously, as it is Improv, a ‘repeat’ is not possible. BUT future performances are!

However, before the shows happened, it was a craft evening for the players. Something completely different, although the laughs still were in abundance.

A wooden Christmas tree was to be erected on the Strand (part of a community event), and the Honest Liars were given the task of painting the wooden ‘baubles’ that were to be hung on it.

Never one to shirk an opportunity for wine, nibbles and laughs the players arrived at the Historic Village and began the task of painting funny faces.

The ‘serious’ task soon evolved into ‘crazy’!!!

honest liars having fun

Task completed. Faces painted, wine and nibbles finished, time to go home.

A delight to see the tree up and reflecting the fun of Improv.

xmas tree the strand

Then came the shows.

The first one at The Mount Golf Club offered a spectacular venue as the stage was set in front of the massive windows that overlooked the golf course.

Thankfully the players faced the audience so were not distracted as the games began with ‘Scenes From a Hat’, covering topics from the “World’s Worst weather forecaster”, “What you shouldn’t say at a job interview” to “What the voices in Trump’s head are saying”.

The winners of the ‘Alphabet Duel’ were Melissa and Jon who were renovating their home over Fee and Steve having a baby. It was clearly apparent that it is much more stressful to renovate!

‘The Dating Game’ was another winner as Kevin (the bachelor) had to pick from Kay who had Tourettes, Melissa, who was overly interested in horses and Kathy who was Melania Trump. As soon as Kevin said he was the wealthiest man in the world ‘Melania’ was up on her feet wanting to take the bachelor there and then.

When it came time for ‘Hollywood Director’ Kevin set the direction for a great game having the players in a hotel near the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Melissa, Jon and Kay immediately all leaned into the plot to the enjoyment of the audience. Switching from Straight to Horror and finally to Western culminated in the guests (Jon and Kay) leaping from the window as an earthquake hit.

Finally, a new game was introduced ‘Theme Restaurant’ which had Kim and Steve sitting at a table entirely in the dark. A twist to the story was that it was also a blind date. The rest of the players were the wait staff and, as this was a lights out restaurant, menus missed the table, napkins were put in places other than laps and Steve mistook the seeing-eye dog as a hairy waitress. The diners were finally told not to eat the blowfish as the kitchen was also operating in the dark.

The Golf Club’s successful show was followed several days later by the players entertaining the Probus group for their end of year function.

A slightly different format to begin the show as the audience had been dining first. The Honest Liars, equipped with Christmas décor and loud, rambunctious music, gate-crashed the dining room and got everyone to bring their wine and follow the music up to the theatre.

The games began with the usual warm-up of Scenes from a Hat followed by the Duel Alphabet. This time Fee and Kevin battled against Kay and Melissa. And although Kay was a murderous daughter who wanted the Christmas pudding recipe from her mother. It was the fact that Kevin was heading off to the moon leaving Fee gleefully finding the alone time conducive to hanging out with Pedro, the pool boy that got the biggest round of applause. They were declared the winners.

The audience enjoyed the antics of Space Jump as Sally didn’t want to jump from the plane, which then evolved into her giving birth when Mark called the next scene. Fee was third in changing the game to three criminals trying to escape through a hedge, and finally, Kay came in as a cheerleader spelling out Probus. One by one the scenes finished as each player existed out.

The Dating Game saw Sweetie, (Kay), arrive and having to choose from the three contestants. Mark had an issue with mice in Monaco, Melissa collected tea leaves, and Sally played an excellent Winston Peters. Watch the clip to see it unfold.

 

Kevin played The Hollywood Director as he tried to get three actors to perform in his new movie about making moonshine in New York for Alan a gangster arriving at any minute. As Kay and Melissa made the moonshine, Fee, playing Alan’s mole, arrived and, after saying the password, was allowed in. From a very vanilla scene, the Director changed the genre to be Elizabethan. Alan became Alan the Great, and the mole turned into a wench. But the movie didn’t shine until it became a Western. Alan was now Bad Bart, and the wench became Annie who, with guns blazing, arrived to collect the whiskey for herself.

Hollywood director improv game

The show ended with the fun game of Puppets. Kevin and Kay were on their first date, which happened to be in a mental hospital. Somehow they ended up in the toilet where beautiful music was playing. The puppeteers, Mark and Sally, certainly had a riot putting these two into the most awkward positions.

Finally, all players came out on stage for the last time to thank the audience and receive the well-deserved applause. Another successful show and an excellent warm-up for the final Christmas show of the year! A heads-up – the Christmas show has already sold out. But keep a watch out for the Honest Liars coming back on the first Sunday in February 2021.
Thanks to the players:

Mt Golf Club                                                                    Probus Group

Melissa
Fee
Steve
Kathy
Kevin
Kay
Jon		 Melissa
Kevin
Sally
Mark
Kay
Fee
Kathy (Emcee)

 

 

The next show at the Jam Factory is on Sunday 6th December 7 pm

Hope you’ve got your tickets, have a drink at Mood Lounge first, then join us for loads of laughs.

1st Sunday of every Month
Jam Factory, Historic Village
Show Starts: 7 p.m.

busy times for honest liars
Busy Times

Busy Times

By |

Within a matter of 48 hours, the Honest Liars had hosted two workshops.

The first one was a little outside the box as the wonderful folk at Media Works asked the players if they would come and entertain them during a conference day they were having. This involved staff from radio stations based in Tauranga, Thames and Coromandel and was to be held at the Falls Retreat in Karangahake Gorge. 

It started well as the Honest Liars sat and discussed the line-up over a coffee.

But neither the players nor the radio personal had any idea that this lunch was going to be in a public restaurant where other people would be. Well, free show for the onlookers, although they probably wouldn’t have got any of the in-jokes that the players dropped throughout the gig.

The show kicked off with a quiz-style question and answers with all the participants up onto their feet, answering multi-choice questions and sitting down if getting it wrong. How could they? All the questions were loosely based on what Honest Liars had been able to glean about their audience. But, there was a winner and chocolate came his way.

The ‘Alphabet Game’ clinched even more secrets being let out of the bag to the delight of the audience.

However, it was a little disconcerting when the restaurant staff picked the middle of the ‘Change Game’ to bring out the pizzas and place them on the tables. But the humour of the situation wasn’t entirely lost by any.

A couple of games specifically more in the corporate workshop realm rounded off the hour, and the players left them to get on with their conference.

Two days later…

Now it was time for the Free Taster. The ‘teachers’ arrived knowing it was going to be busy. And, sure enough, there were 17 people in total… not counting the teachers.

This made for a wonderful couple of hours.

The usual warm-up games were played with one being ‘Body Touching’. Yes, that’s right folk, Kathy called out a number and a body part and the players had to connect. 

“four ankles!”

“four pinkies!”

But the favourite was:

“four bums!”

It certainly got everyone loosened up and laughing.

Players were broken up into groups for “Plan a Party” which had magic carpets, ponies and unicorns and Donald Trump arriving.

“I am a Tree” had all sorts of different poses and got the players thinking outside their comfort zone and they added to the story.

Two lines were formed to play the “Yes And” game with murder and mayhem and “The Johnson File” covered divorce papers, doctors files and even a missing chapter of the bible.

Everyone loved “Space Jump” seeing players dancing with sore ankles, climbing a tree, doing yoga and even delivering an alien.

The Taster workshop proved to be a hit, and those who attended certainly had a ton of raw talent. Laughter abounded, and by the end, everyone left feeling uplifted and many indicating that they wanted more.

Thanks to the Teachers: Kathy & Melissa

Thanks to Support Players: Fee, Kay, Wendy, Sally, Steve

And a huge thanks to all who came along to try their brains at Improv.

The next show at the Jam Factory is on Sunday 1st November 7 pm

Book your tickets, have a drink at Mood Lounge first, then join us for loads of laughs.

1st Sunday of every Month
Jam Factory, Historic Village
Show Starts: 7 p.m.

book now
Standing Room Only

Standing Room Only

By |

It was standing room only at the Jam Factory for the August show, and the players were ready!

Before the warm-up could begin, there was a small matter of getting some professional photos taken. The players arrived early enough in their best bib and tucker. And if you don’t know what that means, Google says:

One’s finest clothes, dressed up, as in the men were told to put on their best bib and tucker for the dinner dance. Although wearing either a bib (frill at the front of a man’s shirt) or a tucker (ornamental lace covering a woman’s neck and shoulders) is obsolete, the phrase survives.

In this case, it meant that the players had their Honest Liars tee on, their hair done, looking the part and no snotty noses.

The photos were taken amidst great hilarity, with the players falling about ….. literally! The images have yet to be viewed and passed before being made public, but watch out for any new banners.

An hour later, the students arrived. These fine players have nearly completed the Beginners’ workshop that has been held over the past few weeks. They were to do a ‘guest’ spot, and two games had been set for them to play within the show.

honest liars warm up

Warm-up began with basic games ideally suited to sharpening the brain and ramping up the energy. Then it was across to The Station for a drink and the last-minute preparations.

honest liars at the Station

People began arriving, and it soon became clear that the house was going to be full. The troupe were not going to disappoint, and so the show started.

Scenes from a Hat was a great way to ‘introduce’ the players as they stepped forward to give small statements in response to suggestions that had been provided by the audience.

A couple more games then Pocket Note, a favourite had Kim, Melissa and Fee as gardeners spicing up their dialogue with suggestions from the audience from “an apple a day keeps the doctor away” to “hey babe, are you trashed I want to take you out”. Weaving these into the gardening scene proved to be both difficult and hilarious at the same time.

Time for the students to have a go on stage. The game some chose was Alphabet. A scene where friends were trying to organise a costume party. Each player had to begin their line with the next letter of the Alphabet which they did with only the odd hiccup of switching letters. All made for a good game.

honest liars students

Foreign Film Dub saw Fee and Kevin speaking in gibberish French meeting at the supermarket. At the same time, Kathy and Kim translated and took the story from the first meeting to the size of the aubergine and many more innuendoes which carried the scene along.

In the second half, the Honest Liars’ plant in the audience who was supposed to be keeping up with the photos (specifically for this blog) was laughing too much and forgot!!!

After intermission, Jon started the ball rolling with a rollicking great stand-up about his trials and tribulations going through the different customs in different countries. Then the games flowed on with the laughs abounding as the players brought their best scenes from the suggestions. Hollywood Director was set around a murder with Melissa and Kim trying to figure out what to do with the body when Kathy turned up as the nosey cop. Jon played the Director and changed the genre a couple of times making the scene a horror, sci-fi and rounding it up with it being a western which saw Kim kill off the nosey Sherriff.

The students had another spot playing the game Space Jump changing the original scene of a rock climber to a Tug of War, riding horses and a cat throwing up. Their creativity showed the advances they had made through coming to the workshops.

The final game, Press Conference, had Jon being grilled by the press because of the scandal that had occurred. Through the hints dropped by the journalists and Jon’s great responses, he soon realised that he was speaking on behalf of Fonterra over the issue of marketing mouse milk.

A rousing applause ended the show and players, students and some audience members wandered over to The Station for a celebratory drink to relax and unwind.

Thanks to all the players:

Fee
Melissa
Kevin
Kristina		 Jon
Kim
Kathy

Thanks to the Students:

Wendy
Steve
Wendy K
Ryan
Vicki		 Sue
Lynn
George
Claudia

Thanks to the crew:

Sally Neil

 

standing room only honest liars

Next show is on September 6th so save the date!

Book your tickets, have a drink at The Station first, then join us for loads of laughs.

1st Sunday of every Month

Jam Factory, Historic Village

Show Starts:  7 p.m.

book now
The Honest Liars Are Back!

The Honest Liars Are Back!

By |

FINALLY! The Honest Liars were back at the Jam Factory giving a show to an appreciative audience.

Players were eager to get into the games and got to the venue in plenty of time to begin warming up. An hour later the crew arrived to put out the signs, sort the sound system and set up cameras.

It seemed that the audience members were also eager beavers as they started coming in through the doors 45 minutes prior to curtain. Mind you, some did have to duck back out again when they discovered they were able to bring wine. Yes, the Jam Factory was back in business.

A slight change to the line-up at the get-go saw Kathy come on stage to do a short stand-up comedy routine. Not only did she warm the crowd up but it certainly impressed the audience when, after she’d finished, Melissa announced that this was Kathy’s first time doing stand-up. Needless to say, she got an extra rousing applause.

honest liars stand up

Then the games began.

‘Out of the Hat’ gave the players the chance to step forward with a one-liner. Perhaps the best was in the scene “Inappropriate thing to say when meeting your mother-in-law for the first time” when Brett said “Ooo, looks like I chose wrong” and indicated walking off with the MIL.

After a game of ‘Questions’ which saw the players in a funeral parlour debating what to do with the ashes it was time for ‘4-Ways to Die’. The audience managed to come up with death ideas from “snake bite” to “death by lollies” and other absurdities in between.

honest liars improv

Marching right on through another couple of games the players then showed their comedic skills with ‘Hollywood Director’. This saw Kim as the frustrated movie director trying to get the ‘actors’ to get dramatic in the audience’s suggested location of the wall at the Mexico border. The director decided it wasn’t good enough and so changed the genre to a Musical, followed soon after to Shakespearean style. It became apparent that the whole thing was a disaster and so as a final attempt to rescue the movie, the director decided the actors needed to go back to acting school.

 

It wasn’t long before the favourite game of ‘Pocket Note’ was played with brilliant suggestions from the audience providing the usual hilarious sentences that the players had to weave into the scene. The hot pools in Rotorua provided the three players with a great place to get to know each other with Mark’s pick-up line (courtesy of the audience) being “Is it really that big?” setting the tone!

 

More games followed and then it was the turn of the audience. That’s right, members of the audience were asked to partake in the games and brave people volunteered after a bit of encouragement.

The game of ‘Sound Effects’ brought one courageous member up onto the stage where she provided sound effects for the scene that was being played out behind the bike shed where the players were planning to bomb the school.

The next audience participation was another favourite – ‘Puppets’. The players did end up in some extraordinary positions all the while trying to keep a straight face and deliver lines to solve a conundrum that the team of pole dancing mother and daughter were trying to solve.

The night ended on a high for both the players and the crew as everyone heartedly agreed it had been a great night’s performance.

Thanks to all – you were brilliant:

      PLAYERS

  • Sally          Kathy
  • Brett         Jon
  • Mark         Kim       Melissa
       CREW

  • Neil
  • Fee
  • Kelly

Next show is on the 2nd August so save the date!

1st Sunday of every Month
Jam Factory, Historic Village
Show Starts: 7 p.m.
Honest Liars Improv at the Fringe Festival, Tauranga

Honest Liars Improv at the Fringe Festival, Tauranga

By |

The Fringe Festival was held at the Historic Village, Tauranga on a stunning Labour weekend Saturday.

The players arrived hyped and ready after pre-loading with games, muffins and coffee at Melissa’s. Inside the gate, the first order of business was to check out the theatre. Luckily no shows were on, and the players were able to take the time to set out the chairs in trepidation that anyone was going to show up.

fringe festival, tauranga

Then it was separated into two gangs of marauding players to ambush the crowd with flyers or impromptu announcements.

Kathy started by standing on a veranda and asking for the crowd’s attention. She then announced that a live vasectomy demonstration would be held at 12.45 in the theatre and were there any volunteers. Fee volunteered her husband (imaginary) who, she said, had wandered off to get a coffee. Neil said he would volunteer and the guy he was standing next to would also. Obviously, the young man was assuming that the whole thing was a hoax!

The next ‘bomb’ was Melissa announcing that Jacinta Ardern was to give a demonstration on how to give birth to a Prime-Ministerial baby live on stage. This was followed by Neil who was offering Fringe cuts, this quickly developed into bikini waxing and other risque beautfy treatments.

The purpose of the announcement stunts was to intrigue the crowd and drum up an audience for the actual show.

It worked.

The players were thrilled that there was a line waiting at the door of the theatre by 12.30 and when they opened the expectant gathering piled in.

The audience was not disappointed.

The World’s Worst game had all the players stepping up with wit and off the wall wisdom.

In the Props game the players were very inventive with what they were given, including using salad spoons as Prince Charles’s ears to the delight of the crowd.

In the Late for Work game Kim had to try and figure out what the players were miming behind the boss’s back as to why she was late. The excuse that she was in a flash mob baffled her a bit, but the audience clapped and cheered when she finally got all three excuses.

The games rolled on, the laughter kept coming and the comedic impoving flowed. Some audience members had to leave but told the players at the door they didn’t want to go they were enjoying it that much. However, new ones arrived and although there were a few that came and went it was extremely encouraging to know that 95% of the audience saw the entire show. This was a feat in itself as outside the festival continued with live music, street buskers, art and an array of other things to do.

Full audience participation rounded off the show with the Emotional Symphony game. It started slow but built to a climatic conclusion that was a brilliant ending to the hugely successful performances by all players.

Not all the players could be at the debrief, but they found a table that was occupied by a sole person and politely commandeered it. Little did she know that she was now to be the Honest Liars first ‘groupie’.

Those who were there enjoyed the beautiful sun, great music, and the on-tap beer they had discovered at a very successful Fringe Festival. No doubt they’ll be there next year!

Thanks to the players who absolutely shone on-stage:

Melissa
Kelly O
Kathy
Kristina
Jon		 Kim
Kevin
Kelly D
Brett
Fee

And the players who came to support

Melanie
Alex
Neil

honest liars improv
Teaching at the Workshop

Teaching at the Workshop

By |

One of the services we offer is teaching improv to those who want to have a go at this particular acting art.

So after our successful night entertaining the locals at Waihi (see the previous post), we held a workshop the next morning.

Six intrepid players turned up at the theatre ready to give this improving a whirl. Perfect number, enough to go into teams and not too many that there couldn’t be a one on one that is always such a bonus in any training scenario.

To begin the players were taught the real basics beginning with mime then building up into the ‘Yes and’ game as well as showing them how it felt to be blocked.

By now the players were really warming to the improvisation and before we knew it we were playing the ‘Alphabet’ game (not as easy as it looked) as well as the ‘Change’ game. Both these had been played the night before so the concept was familiar.

The new players did exceptionally well. Okay, so most were already used to acting but one chap had turned up with his son and both definitely hit the mark of comedy with their quick thinking and quick wit.

Thanks to the Honest Liars players who were stayed on to help teach.

Neil
Kevin
Kelly D
Fee

 

 
Age Didn’t Matter.

Age Didn’t Matter.

By |

A mid-week, mid-day show saw us entertaining slightly older folk who got every joke, every nuance and supplied us with fantastic scenes and props.

The ‘Pocket Note’ game saw Melissa as the tour guide with Melanie and Neil, the tourists, on White Island where there was a possum up a tree. Somehow Melissa declared her love for Melanie, Neil was stunned and shot the possum but it all ended happily as the trio departed the island for McLaren falls.

honest liars improv

In the game ‘Scene Three Ways’, Buckingham Palace was on fire and Kevin and Fee were shocked, but the news reporter (Neil) declared it to be perfectly okay as it was actually a movie, (although the palace was ruined in the last take) – repeated again in the style of a Western and then as a Melodrama the game had the crowd laughing at the antics.

The pool scene happened in the game ‘Film-Noir’ played by Melissa and Fee. The two women met at the pool where Fee had eyes for Melissa’s husband, Bob. There was nothing else to be done except for Melissa to lure Fee into the deep end as she knew Fee couldn’t swim and then drown her … quite by accident, of course.

Another corker set of games with the audience laughing till the end.

Thanks to the players:

Melissa
Kevin
Melanie
Neil
Fee

 

Show Buttons
Hide Buttons