Edinburgh Fringe – Showstoppers
7 August 2014
The Edinburgh Fringe is in full swing, which means the city
is heaving with tourists and performers and there’s an inescapable buzz in the
atmosphere. For someone living and working in the city, like me, it can get
pretty irritating at times, but there’s no doubting how unique and exciting the
city is during August. And it’s great when I have time off now and then to go
try to catch some shows.
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I went to see Showstoppers the other night, a group who
improvise a musical from scratch before your eyes. I saw them last year, and
they were very good, but I enjoyed this year’s even more. The format of the
show is basically the same – one man receives a call asking him to come up with
a new musical, he takes audience suggestions for the setting, musical
influences and title, then throughout the show he pauses the performance to
explain what he has written next, and of course the rest of the group must follow
suit. This year I witnessed “Tonight We Dance in Hell”, set in the Spartan
gypsy underworld and featuring songs inspired by The Sound of Music, Cats, The
Phantom of the Opera and Miss Sagon.
improvise a musical from scratch before your eyes. I saw them last year, and
they were very good, but I enjoyed this year’s even more. The format of the
show is basically the same – one man receives a call asking him to come up with
a new musical, he takes audience suggestions for the setting, musical
influences and title, then throughout the show he pauses the performance to
explain what he has written next, and of course the rest of the group must follow
suit. This year I witnessed “Tonight We Dance in Hell”, set in the Spartan
gypsy underworld and featuring songs inspired by The Sound of Music, Cats, The
Phantom of the Opera and Miss Sagon.
I’ve seen improv shows that allow for more audience
suggestions than this one (though we did also provide poets to inspire a love
poem written on the spot), but this is understandable as the musical has to
have a plot and steer towards an ending in a short space of time. The
performers do fling in their own weird and wonderful ideas though – we had
characters named Syphilis and Chlamydia and Spartans who were oddly reminiscent
of cowboys, hoedowns and all. They also manage to put clever connections in to
the plot and even worked the play’s title in to a song. The actors are not only
exceptionally fast thinkers to create the story, but also hilariously funny and
quick-witted, bouncing off each other’s retorts.
suggestions than this one (though we did also provide poets to inspire a love
poem written on the spot), but this is understandable as the musical has to
have a plot and steer towards an ending in a short space of time. The
performers do fling in their own weird and wonderful ideas though – we had
characters named Syphilis and Chlamydia and Spartans who were oddly reminiscent
of cowboys, hoedowns and all. They also manage to put clever connections in to
the plot and even worked the play’s title in to a song. The actors are not only
exceptionally fast thinkers to create the story, but also hilariously funny and
quick-witted, bouncing off each other’s retorts.
We also shouldn’t forget to praise the musicians, who
compose the accompaniments to each song on the spot, listening to each other
and the performers and creating something really very impressive. Occasionally
a performer would hesitate slightly or break character to laugh at something
said, but this doesn’t detract from the performance at all. In fact, it reminds
you that this is being improvised, and therefore just how good what they’re
doing is. I would recommend this show to anyone – they even have a kids’
version on in the day – and you could go several times over and never see the
same show twice.
compose the accompaniments to each song on the spot, listening to each other
and the performers and creating something really very impressive. Occasionally
a performer would hesitate slightly or break character to laugh at something
said, but this doesn’t detract from the performance at all. In fact, it reminds
you that this is being improvised, and therefore just how good what they’re
doing is. I would recommend this show to anyone – they even have a kids’
version on in the day – and you could go several times over and never see the
same show twice.
