‘Theatresports Grand Championships’ // Brisbane Comedy Festival
‘Theatresports Grand Championships: River City Rivals’ was playful.
On Sunday early evening I braved the New Farm Park picnic crowds, defiantly parked an oversized vehicle on the mulch (I was late, sue me), and ventured, Sauv blanc in hand, down the stairs and into the entrails of the Powerhouse to watch Improv Queensland’s Theatresports Grand Championships: River City Rivals as part of the famous Brisbane Comedy Festival.
Set in the perfectly intimate and impossibly cool Underground Theatre, this year’s improv championship was a peculiar yet fascinating spectacle.
The night featured two teams: Brisbane Southside and Brisbane Northside, battling it out in a friendly skirmish of wits. Amidst the action on stage sat a sound technician armed with a keyboard, who improvised soundscapes that breathe life into every scene. From the gentle melody of a romantic interlude in Redcliffe to the suspenseful chords of a dramatic menage-a-trois reveal, the live soundtrack added depth and atmosphere to the evening and left me impressed with the sound technician’s skillful adaptability.
The two MCs—who also moonlighted as judges— stumbled through an intro that felt slightly awkward, but thankfully ran the rest of the evening with a steady hand, whistling the sketches to a stop at exactly the right moment, engaging the audience in some playful northside-southside rivalry, and rating the performances in a surprisingly honest way. This was improv in its purest form: messy, unpredictable and utterly human.
The energy in the Underground Theatre at the Brisbane Powerhouse was electric, and overall I was glad that I got to experience the joy and vulnerability of improv as a theatre sport. The performers’ enthusiasm was indeed contagious, and I found myself cheering and laughing uproariously at moments that, in hindsight, wouldn’t quite pass muster in any scripted comedy routine.
The sketches themselves may have been more mildly amusing than genuinely side-splittingly funny, but for me, the magic of the night wasn’t in the punchlines, it was in the fun of watching six brave souls stepping into the unknown, gladiator style, with nothing but their wits and a wild sense of adventure.
Should an improv show be judged mainly on the comedic quality of the sketches? I’m not sure. But at $39 a ticket for a 50-minute show, I thought some folks might have felt a bit short-changed on the belly-laugh front. But everyone left with smiles on their faces, and the short duration might have helped me escape a parking fine.
At the end of the day, improv is a theatre sport, a game, and a darn hard one, too. As such it is maybe more about showing up, being seen, and creating something spontaneously as part of a team, for an audience with a supportive mindset who appreciates the unpolished charm of improv.
In saying that, the show was proof to me that improv is a very real craft that, in some ways, is more challenging than scripted theatre. Watching these veteran improv performers on stage was a masterclass into quick thinking, spontaneity, team connection and embracing imperfection. Hats off to them.
It’s great to see the Brisbane Comedy Festival branching out with different forms of comedy and spotlighting grassroots local art like Improv Queensland. This variety enriches the festival and supports the local creative scene.
If you’re intrigued by the idea of live creativity and appreciate the guts it takes to perform without a script, or if you’re involved in theatre, Improv Queensland is definitely worth a look.
‘Theatresports Grand Championships: River City Rivals’ ran on 19 May 2024 at the Brisbane Powerhouse as part of the Brisbane Comedy Festival. For more information visit Theatresports Grand Championships – Brisbane Comedy Festival
