It was thrilling to return to the Enmore theatre last Saturday night to play for Victoria in the Theatresports™ Nationals.
*Photo by Stephen Reinhardt (sgr.com.au) reproduced with the permission of Impro Australia Incorporated.
Playing in the Nationals brings mixed feelings. I am originally from Sydney and from 1985 to 1995 I was part of the Sydney Theatresports community, helping it to grow and expand. Now I return as a founding member of our Impro Melbourne company. So I am ‘going home’ in one sense as the ‘prodigal daughter’ back to the family bosom.
The first Nationals, held in November 1985 in Sydney involved three teams: NSW, Victoria and South Australia. Players didn’t know each other well, there were feelings of rivalry – the ‘competition’ between states, especially Sydney and Melbourne was strong. We played a very restrictive version of Theatresports™ then, having learned about the format only through notes and second hand information. Each state simply played Theatresports™ and little other improvisation was happening in theatres across Australia.
Now, 29 years down the track it is so very different. There were 6 teams: Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Canberra, Adelaide and Perth. Many of those present knowing each other and greeting each other like old friends. Players from interstate have more chances now to meet each other through regular interstate workshops and festivals and even when we meet for the first time we can quickly find connections. All our companies are stretching and expanding the boundaries of improvisation, providing audiences with a huge variety of work.
Cale Bain and Marko Mustac from Impro Australia came up with some lovely innovations this year. Because the competition fell on the Anzac holiday weekend we were invited to come a day early and play a “ramshackle show’ on the Friday night in a smaller venue, the Roxbury Hotel in Glebe. Eating dinner together beforehand was wonderful chaos: tables being added to make one long feasting bench; players jumping up to greet and hug friends made over the years; new introductions made; ‘so tell me what you’ve been doing ?’ the quick question on everyone’s lips.
The Ramshackle show was just that: a big sprawling jam with players being called up on stage and scenes given. Highlights were an opera set in Buenos Aires with Glenn Hall from Perth singing as the giant Jesus statue above the city, a Tennessee Williams family drama with my fellow players Sarah Kinsella and Rik Brown, and lovely ‘switch up’ game with 3 scene pairs, each new pair jumping in to start their scene using a line just spoken in the other pair’s scene – I hope to bring it into our Maestro™ season !
The Friday show together meant that when we all came along to the Enmore on the Saturday we came as an ensemble cast. We felt we ‘knew’ each other. In previous years this moment has always been more ‘tentative’ as this is often the first time you get to meet and see who else is playing, we don’t get to see each others style until we are on stage in front of an audience. This year we were much more settled and ready to be playful with each other.
Cale, as director of the night, kept us out of ‘planning mind’ by revealing the format only an hour before show start. As well as some team choice rounds he added in a lovely idea: the Hero round. Each team was assigned a member of another team and the task was to make them the ‘hero’ of the scene and the points would reflect how well the team did this. We had the lovely Dan from Queensland’s Impro Mafia. We felt the need for a ‘genre’. Dan declared he loved Film Noir so we played a lovely ‘noir detective’ story with Dan as the detective: the case of the Missing Umbrella.
All teams did some lovely work on the night and the 700 strong audience booed the Judges heartily when disagreeing with scores. The winning team was Sydney in a play-off with Melbourne. The two young Sydney boys, Nick and Edan won the Sydney Cranston Cup last year. They play as their alter-egos “Hans and Otto”, clad head to toe in charcoal grey ‘wet suit’ like skin suits. They are like sleek grey torpedoes ! The audience clearly loves them with a huge cheer at their appearance. They were delightful and playful and thoroughly deserved to take out the trophy. My most favourite scene was the one they played with our Sarah Kinsella in their “Hero” scene. Amidst all the madness they chose to play a ‘truthful’ scene, with Sarah as doting mother to Edan who had set up a date for her. Sarah, in her usual ‘leap in and play’ self became this possessive mother, tidying up her son’s hair, assuring him he was the centre of her universe and that she would never leave him alone. Watching Edan’s character squirm under the attention was so lovely. The scene scored wonderfully and when the boys and Sarah sat back down, Nick looked at her and said “Wow, you were really crying ! You’re amazing. Thank you” I was so proud to see young players realising the skill and respecting someone like Sarah who is so adept at mischief and fun and can also turn very quickly to sit in real emotion and drama.
In the audience were many of the players who created Impro Australia and were my playing compatriots for a decade. Standing in the foyer reminiscing with them I watched the new blood, “Hans and Otto” being greeted and mobbed by family and fans. I felt like one of those movies where the character stands still and everyone moves at super speed around them, time moving speedily while I watched on like a god on a mountain: the past, the present and the exciting future. Long Live Impro!