About a week ago, I got the chance to visit Chicago and see some wonderful improv friends who are Theatre Strike Force alum. A coworker friend and I had big improv plans: One of the things to check off our Chicago list was see an improv show.
iO is something I had only heard about in improv classes at the University of Florida. It seemed like a faraway, mystical improv heaven full of improv celebrities. I never knew when I’d actually get to go there.
Next thing I know, I’m in the front row at iO, waiting for the show to begin!
We were waiting to see Improvised Shakespeare, which I heard was the funniest, most impressive show at iO. The players create a fully improvised, two-act play in Elizabethan style.
iO Del Close Theater (photo by April Dudash)
Here was the talented cast of the evening: Brendan Dowling, Ric Walker, Steve Waltien, Martin Wilson and Rich Prouty.
Improvised Shakespeare asks the audience for a title of a play that has never been written. One audience member instantly shouted out “Octopus on a Train!”
Yikes. What were they going to do with that? Despite all the suggestion shouting, they specifically weeded out “Octopus on a Train” to use for their Shakespearean play. I felt nervous for them, for some reason.
The lights dimmed. Brendan Dowling stepped out and delivered a brilliantly poetic monologue that RHYMED. It seemed effortless on his part. His story was about intertwined, tragic love with slight nautical undertones (he didn’t overdo it).
Then, Ric Walker and Steve Waltien established the first scene. They were brothers who were supposed to get married on the same day. Come to find out, they’re twins named Marcellus and Aquaticus, and they are supposed to do everything together. Something happens with the marriage plans, which causes both brothers to vow to never do the same things together again. They throw their “Bros” lockets into a distant pond, therefore fueling their growing distaste for one another.
The players have multiple characters. As an all-male team, I noticed their female characters were subtle and the feminine traits weren’t overpowering.
An entanglement of relationships ensued, and they all seemed to be a step ahead of the storyline.
Here were some amazing moments:
-One of Dowling’s characters was a lute player who sang little songs while getting ready for the wedding. His lute ended up being destroyed. With a horrified face and clutching the back wall, he whispered, “My baby was in the lute.” The rest of the cast began to support him, saying they would bring their babies to work. (A cupcake maker had a baby covered in icing.)
-Ric Walker would climb to the top of the stage and look over it forebodingly, saying that the players below didn’t learn their lessons and that doom would rain down upon them. That’s how the first act ended quite epically.
-Ric Walker killed another character with a viper. He would pet it lovingly, cooing to the “sweet, sweet viper,” then used it to attack the other person’s neck.
There are other things I wish I could explain in this blog, but the moves were so intricate and so group-minded, it’s really hard to describe.
**The Improvised Shakespeare Company is comprised of about 15 people, and show casts are usually 4-6 people. The cast on that Friday evening listened to all the details and made sure not one gift was dropped.
After the show ended, I was completely floored. Everything was so well done, and the audience was laughing non-stop. And more than that, it was a smart show.
Go see it if you can. It really showed the value of smart improv, of looking past the crude jokes and college humor to get to the meat of the scene. It taught the necessity of simple facial expressions and space-object work.
Even though iO is a tangible thing to me now, it’s still a crazy mystical place in my improv mind.
**Edited 7.07.10: Improvised Shakespeare itself stopped by the blog and was super wonderful! It clarified that there is no “regular” Shakespeare cast and that they routinely switch out who’s performing together. Thanks, guys!
