High hope for new Solo Improv Show
God dam I have no idea what I am doing. I feeling like a naive new-comer hoping to achieve the unthinkable.
I know I have an aptitude for improv and I have been doing it for years but a 1 hour solo show feels like a massive challenge. And a massive challenge is what I need right now.
Part of the reason I want to do a solo improv show is that I’m beginning to feel like my other show is getting a little bit dated. Of course doing the same show over and over again for years can drive you mad, but putting that aside, from a scaleable perspective, I’m less likely to get a repeat booking if they have already seen my show.
So enter improvisation – where no 2 shows are ever the same. I do have some stand up parts to warm up the audience but in general I will be using some improv games to drive the performance forward.
Usually it takes more than one person to perform improvisation so taking a leaf out of the stand up comedy philosophy where the comedy only exists if there is an audience, my improv partners are the audience.
I’m working on a few ideas, of how to involve the audience as my improv partner. Some ideas I have seen online and some are a combination of stuff I’ve learned, practice and read, and one I think I have invented myself.
Solo improv is not a common thing at all , because it is so difficult and quite often fails only the most shameless of performers attempt it. And that is me, I really don’t mind trying at something really hard and then totally sucking and failing.
In the words of McMurphy when his fellow inmates were jeering him after his failed escape attempt from the Cuckoo’s nest… “at least I tried god dam it, at least I did that. “