For their winter season of shows, the Impro Melbourne crew brings us the Impro Cave, a show featuring a different type of improvised show each week. These include formats such as More or Less, Tangents and Tales on a Greater Scale.
The team have set up shop in a different location to their usual home at Theatreworks, this time at Don’t Tell Tom. Even though the architecture reminded me of an old school gymnasium, this venue featured a kitchen serving meals from 6pm as well as a well stocked bar for you to whet your whistle. Table seating was arranged in front of the medium sized stage, with some couches situated on the outer fringes.
On my visit to the Cave, I witnessed the game of Gorilla Theatre in the first half of the show. This competitive format pitted the improvisers against each other, as they directed short scenes using the others as their cast. The ultimate prize was custody of a toy gorilla. The directors had a predetermined theme upon which they based their scenes but they were free to structure the scenes however they wanted (or were forced to by their unruly cast). The audience judged each scene by shouting out “banana” (plastic bananas were used for scoring) or “forfeit”. The director of a failed scene would be instructed to carry out a act of penance such as singing to the gorilla or announcing their failure to the outside world. It was a wild and crazy game with plenty of sabotage by the “actors” to ensure the downfall of a rival. These moments were often more amusing than the scene itself.
After a short interval we witnessed the first performance of a new format called Couples. This show was structured so that the six improvisers were paired off to play married couples. They performed a play that explored the relationship between each person with their partner and the other couples. To help develop their character, each person asked the audience for a secret that could be revealed as the show progressed. This information was kept from the others by getting them to cover their ears and hum to themselves. It was a highly suspect method, but turned out to be unnecessary when most of these suggestion were not included in the show. I’m sure that this wasn’t deliberate, with so much going on these small details could easily have been overlooked. The show included a number of amusing moments but overall was a more dramatic piece. I’m sure with some more interesting suggestions from the audience, the show could be hilarious.
With a large number of different formats, the Impro Cave provides an always unpredictable source of entertainment. You can experience some of your favorite impro shows (as seen at the recent Tales of a Greater Scale shows and Global Spontaneous Combustion) or be a Guinea Pig as the team try out a new format. This adds up to a fun way to spend a Sunday evening.
The Impro Cave is located at Don’t Tell Tom Bar & Cafe (420 Sydney Rd, Brunswick), running every Sunday until August 27th. The show starts at 7:30 and tickets are $10/$8