At The Boulevard Theatre (in Soho)
Improvisation Theatre online (with The Bristol Improvisation Theatre)
Performed on Fri 27 March 2020
Reviewer: Kate Herbert
Reviewed on 11 October 2020
See this online at this link:
This review appears only on this blog. KH
Justin Brett and Susan Harrison improvise a mythical, musical journey in this show at the Boulevard in Soho that just squeaked in before the UK Covid restrictions closed London theatres.
Tall, lanky Brett is a contrast to Harrison, who is petite and sweet, and both are capable and charming improvisers who, with two musicians, are able to create a coherent and cohesive improvised landscape of characters, places and songs in a moment.
The inspiration for their 30-minute fable comes from an audience member named Equador (Yes, really!) who tells the pair that he made a bag this week out of his late grandparents’ old curtains. This surprising and evocative story is a gift for any improviser.
Brett and Harrison launch their tale with a word at a time story about Equador going on a journey with his bag. Brett, as Equador, sings the Song of Sadness then visits a Youth Hostel owned by a privileged, young woman called something that sounds like ‘Morona’. Their dialogue is riddled with puns and she dubs him a ‘pundamentalist’.
In a wonderfully poignant and philosophical moment, Equador says carries his memories and family with him in his bag made from grandparents’ curtains.
They reminisce about the past in a song called 1982 (‘What a time to be alive!’) but Equador travels on without Morona until he meets the Woman of the Border of the Balkans and sings The Woman of the Border, She Stands for Order.
The performance ends with a celebratory song called Now Is Where the Now Is, about going home and keeping the past with us in the present.
This is a joyful musical and comedic improvisation that highlights the skill and spontaneity of the two performers and their musicians.
By Kate Herbert
No comments:
Post a Comment