The night of the 17th of November held for improv lovers a very special occasion
teamed up to show a variety of longform styles and foster international improv
exchange.
First Dizzy at the Pitt Kittens took the stage to perform their show ‘Whirlpool’.
This format highlights the power of the combination of abstract scene work,
realistic scenes, and colorful stories. In a collage of scenes inspired by the
two words betrayal and paranoia. After presenting an improvised dance, in
which everyone of the four performers took the lead at some point, to lure the
audience in and probably warming up their bodies Dizzy and the Pitt Kittens
took the audience on a journey through single scenes and reoccurring stories
about cheating wives, rejection in social groups, the royal hierarchies and land
ownership among lions, the old rivalry between postman and dog, and others.
They presented not only how to stay in and instantly refind strong characters but
also how to organically transform smoothly from one scene to the next with all
players on the stage at all times, even if the scene is only about two or even one
person. This was for the spectator surely the most inspiring experience, leaving
us with the question “How the hell did they do that?”.
It was clear that there were four highly skilled and well assembled performers
on stage who seem to have found an outstanding level of groupmind and who
dare to go to places very few other improv groups would take their scenes:
funny, sad, and abstract all in one show.
(by: Gerald Weber)
In the second half the three players of the Swiss longform group Harri Olli took
to the stage. The two founders Gerry and Simone trained this year with BATS
from San Fransisco and brought BATS format ' The Naked Stage' with them to
Zurich.
Earlier in 2012 the duo had performed their two men show (also made possible
by All Improv) and for this second performance they invited new group member
Niggi to perform with them. ‘The Naked Stage’ consisted of three acts, each with
a predetermined length in time, and no change of characters or location. The
audience suggested a shed for a location and the three performers told the story
of a man dealing with the relationship with his father now and in the past, and
how that affected his marriage.
The story evolved in a calm pace with a very interesting tension underneath it.
Regularly this tension was broken by the funny twists in the universe they had
carefully created. For instance when Sarah, the wife, made light hearted remarks
about issues that her husband had difficulty dealing with, both frustrating
and thawing him. It was in moments like this, that the actors could show their
experience as an ensemble and the acting skills that they individually own.
The evening ended with a short jam session with all seven players on stage in
which they showed themselves from even more different sides. The audience got
a full spectrum of abstract, serious, and light fun as a dessert.
(by: Laura Doorneweerd)
