Impromptu Dramaturgy: Improvised Shakespeare @ Edfringe 2017

KPS PRODUCTIONS AND IMPROMPTU SHAKESPEARE PROUDLY PRESENT IMPROMPTU SHAKESPEARE

EDINBURGH FRINGE 2017

THEATRE, AGE GUIDANCE 12+

Just the Tonic – The Big Room 13:30 (1 hour), 3rd - 13th AUGUST

Imagine Shakespeare wrote a completely new play at your suggestion. Would it be a tragedy or comedy, about love, lies or mistaken identity? Improvised theatre company Impromptu Shakespeare are coming to Edinburgh to give you the chance to find out. Now in their fourth year, the company buckle on the Bard's britches to bring you the plays he never wrote.

What was the inspiration for this performance?

We improvise new Fringe length plays in the style of Shakespeare, incorporating suggestions from the audience. It was inspired by a love for Shakespeare and a love for improvisation as a genuine art form. 

Shakespeare plays originally contained improvised elements which have largely been lost, while his written works have become revered, sacred and untouchable - we like to flip that on its head for an hour and try to become the bard ourselves. 

We were also interested to experiment with what feels to be the impossible challenge of making up something that can seem to the audience as though it could be 'authentic' Shakespeare. It's also incredibly fun!

Is performance still a good space for the public discussion of ideas? Yes - if not more than ever before. Performance can sensitively allow you inside someone else's world and allows a greater understanding, and sometimes empathy for multiple viewpoints.

How did you become interested in making performance?

I came to improv at the age of 23 - it felt like a whole new world had opened up and the creation of this completely ephemeral art (either comedic or theatrical or both) which exists just in the moment was an exciting revelation.

Is there any particular approach to the making of the show?

We have some guiding principles. We want to honour Shakespeare and his skill with language, and imagine that if he were stood at the back of the theatre he would enjoy himself and clap at the end. In this respect we are certainly not a parody show. 

We also want to honour good long form improvisation and so will not sacrifice on that in order to create something that if transcribed would be closer to 'authentic' Shakespeare. 

Does the show fit with your usual productions?

Impromptu Shakespeare only perform this show. We are a collection of actor improvisers who also perform with a diverse range of other companies from the Maydays (Happily Never After) to Notflix to The Adventures of the Improvised Sherlock Holmes and many others. 

It's notable that our other improvised projects at the Fringe are mostly narrative or genre based shows, which could be seen as a similarity, but this simply demonstrates the types of improv show which are most able to appeal to a general audience in Edinburgh. 

Back in London and elsewhere we are involved in a variety of non-narrative or genre shows too. 

Our producer KPS Productions has looked after shows in a variety of genres.  

What do you hope that the audience will experience?First and foremost to feel transported and genuinely affected. Joy, sadness, pity, pride. The human experience - just as you would hope for if you were putting on a production of Shakespeare.
Then, to be surprised and delighted and enthralled by our ability to improvise and for it to feel like it could actually be Shakespeare, but that we are making it up, right there and then.

The cast include some of the UK’s most experienced improvisers and literally make each play up as they go, inspired by suggestions from the audience. Appearing will be Ailis Duff (Notflix: The Improvised Musical, Reversed Shakespeare Co.), Rosy Fordham (Upstairs Downton, Secret Cinema), James Irving (Shakespeare for Breakfast, Classic Andy), Alice Lamb (Closer Each Day), John Lomas (Closer Each Day), Rebecca MacMillan (The Maydays), Jenny Rowe (The Maydays) and Tom Wilkinson (Adventures of the Improvised Sherlock Holmes).

Each hour-long show is unique but unmistakably Shakespearean, echoing his themes, characters and language. It's great for families with older children (age guide 12+) with its winning combination of accessible irreverence whilst striving to be as true as possible to Shakespeare.

“What we love about performing this show is how it appeals to both Shakespeare nerds and complete newbies” says founding member Rebecca MacMillan. “If you’re new to Shakespeare’s work, it can seem pretty daunting, but improvising using his language and themes we show how approachable it is. We’ve found that aficionados also love that playfulness, borrowing and skitting on elements they recognise.”

Kids' Show Dramaturgy: Adam Meggido @ Edfringe 2016

The Showstoppers' Kids' Show

Pleasance Courtyard (Venue 33) ​

Aug 3-21 11.40am

Here in their very own story factory, Olivier Award-winning West End improvisers, The Showstoppers, take your kids’ ideas and transform them into marvellous, musical adventures, on the spot and direct from their imaginations. If your children could create their dream musical, where would they start? A dolls’ house? A magic castle? The spooky cupboard downstairs? Grown-ups please take note – youngsters call the shots in the story factory and suggestions are only taken from kids!

What was the inspiration for this performance?

AFTER A FEW YEARS OF PLAYING SHOWSTOPPER THE IMPROVISED MUSICAL, WE REALISED THAT SOME OF THE BEST SUGGESTIONS CAME FROM KIDS IN THE AUDIENCE. SO WE DECIDED TO DO A SHOW FOR KIDS. IT’S AN ENTIRELY IMPROVISED MUSICAL BUT THE KIDS TELL US WHAT TO DO. IN FACT WE ONLY TAKE SUGGESTIONS FOR KIDS - AND THEY CAN GET INVOLVED IN THE ACTION TOO!

How did you go about gathering the team for it?

IT’S THE SAME OLIVER AWARD -WINNING TEAM THAT CREATED SHOWSTOPPER THE IMPROVISED MUSICAL. PLUS KIDS CAN BE IN IT TOO SO THEY ARE PART OF THE TEAM!

How did you become interested in making performance?

MOST OF US IN THE TEAM ARE PRETTY TERRIBLE AT EVERYTHING ELSE. EXCEPT DYLAN EMERY WHO ACTUALLY RUNS PROPER BUSINESS AND PHILIP PELLEW WHO IS AN EXPERT IN SIEGE TACTICS.

Was your process typical of the way that you make a performance?

YUP. WE GET TOGETHER. WE TRY STUFF OUT. WE ARGUE. WE MAKE EACH OTHER LAUGH. WE GET STRESSED. THEN WE STOP WORRYING ABOUT IT. THEN WE START ALL OVER AGAIN. SO, YES, TYPICAL REALLY.

What do you hope that the audience will experience?

A GREAT FUN SHOW IN WHICH ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN. THE KIDS TELL US WHAT TO DO AND CAN GET INVOLVED AT TIMES. IT’S INTERACTIVE WITHOUT BEING INTIMIDATING, IT’S PLAYFUL, FUNNY AND ORIGINAL EVERY SINGLE TIME.

What strategies did you consider towards shaping this audience experience?

HOW TO MAKE SURE PEOPLE HAVE FUN.

Do you see your work within any particular tradition?

ERRR….. ENTERTAINMENT?

Improv Dramaturgy with Rhapsodes: Sean McCann @ Edfringe 2016

Rhapsodes

 Pleasance Courtyard (Venue 33)

Aug 3-14 2.30pm

Shakespeare made up on the spot! From the creators of Olivier Award-winning Showstopper! The Improvised Musical, this is improv as you've never seen it before. Honouring ancient Athenian traditions, two Rhapsodes compete to create a fully-authentic Shakespearean masterpiece incorporating rap, poetry-slams and any writer from the last 3,000 years, from Homer to Pinter, from Poe to Dr Seuss. Adam Meggido and Sean McCann have improvised at the National Theatre, Royal Court, Shakespeare's Globe and all over the world.

What was the inspiration for this performance?

Lots ! This show developed out of three years' work with Ken Campbell , and then several years of working on literary - based Impro shows like " School Of Night". With Ken, we first improvised Shakespeare together with Mark Rylance at Shakespeare's Globe in 2005. We wanted to see how much of the audience we could use in a show , and how much we could make the audience part of the narrative. We've also been great fans of narrative poetry , and the entertainment potential of dramatising poetry while playing with the rhyme and rhythm. We try to channel the Marx Brothers as well as Ken Dodd. 

  

How did you become interested in making performance?

We started reading all the Impro books and underlining all the things you aren't meant to do. For example , one book says one could not , nor should not , ever improvise in the style of Edgar Allan Poe's " The Raven ".  We've been doing it for years and audiences are pretty keen on it. So that's how this happened. 

Was your process typical of the way that you make a performance?

Typical for us , if not for " the others ". This is a very atypical show - it combines stand - up , poetry slamming , music - hall and really really weird stuff. Over the years Adam and I have performed as a double - act and with larger groups. We've honed particular bits of audience - interactive "patter ", and we change our show depending on the shape of the playing space , and the consistency of the audience - so it's very much a bespoke show - you bring your ideas and we'll weave them into our show. We will also compliment you on your dress sense. 

What do you hope that the audience will experience?

We hope they will experience great joy , great wonder , and great ownership of the story. We also hope they will experience a great need to see our show again , and an other-worldly desire to bring their friends. 

What strategies did you consider towards shaping this audience experience?

Get on with it. Be funny. Be touching. Be touchingly funny. We keep the house lights up and work hard on our poetic metre. By the end everyone will have learned something , ideally something beneficial to humankind. 

Do you see your work within any particular tradition?

I'm a huge fan of vaudeville , of double - acts , and of pantomime. We love to get in amongst the crowd , and to create a carnivalesque festivity. We are , at times , very much behind you. Oh yes we are. 

Degrees Of Dramaturgy: Lizzy Skrzypiec @ Edfringe 2016

Move over, Miss Marple!

In comedy smash ‘Murder, She Didn’t Write’, YOU become the author and watch your very own Agatha Christie­ inspired masterpiece unfold on stage. In ​“one of the funniest evenings you’ll have in some time” (Ed Fringe Review), this ​BBC Radio 2 recommended show allows you, the audience, to unleash your literary prowess and create a hilarious improvised murder mystery. Our fantastic cast use your title suggestions and evidence ideas to create a never before seen, ​unscripted murder mystery, which promises to dazzle, enthral, and delight. One lucky audience member even gets to secretly choose the murderer and victim!

Will you work out whodunnit in time?

Company - Degrees Of Error

Show – Murder, She Didn't Write

Participant – Lizzy Skrzypiec (Lady Violet)

What was the inspiration for this performance?

Well, Degrees Of Error as a company have always loved long-form

Narrative Improv. We knew we wanted to create something that was funny, dramatic, and extremely colourful.

So it seemed like the obvious choice to pick (Murder-Mystery), a genre more hammy than Christopher Biggins' bacon baguette.

Also as many of us came from a comedy background, we've died on stage many times in the early days, so now it's nice we get an applause break to do it.

How did you go about gathering the team for it?

Honestly? Most of us started out as friends.

We were a core group with a love for Improv and silliness. As Murder, She Didn't Write grew in terms of scale, playing bigger stages and needing more characters, we found the show we wanted to make had outgrown us!

For the first time, we auditioned (fantastic) new recruits, who now make up half of the cast. We're still friends, the gang just got bigger. Every new face has made us step up our game, because they're all professional Actor/ Improvisers, and it's been more of a symbiosis of mutual absorption.

Kind of like two amoebas, we engorged each other... wait hang on a minute, what was the question?

How did you become interested in making performance?

I make performance all the time. I'm sure the others do too, even when no one is watching; singing in our cars, pretending you're presenting a cooking show when you're whipping up a stir-fry for one.

We'll never make incredible sporting feats, beautiful architecture, or millions on the stock market, so what else can we do but make performance?

Was your process typical of the way that you make a performance?

Typical for making an improv show, yes. Step 1 - Get good at Improv, Step 2 - Learn your Genre, Step 3 - Find a way to stage it.

Step 2 might be easy if all you've gotta do is watch some movies, but I tell you, people do not like it when you try and watch them commit murder. Not at all!

Murder-Mystery itself was a challenge, because compared to something like Westerns or Period Drama, it's a very self-aware genre. Every author, from Christie to Conan Doyle, loved to insert meta-jokes and arch 'looks to camera' in their work.

Our solution was to have the show run by 'The Detective', a narrator/prosecutor character who relates the story of each crime to the audience, then tries to solve it.

What do you hope that the audience will experience?

I genuinely want the audience to play along.

I cannot stress this point enough, WE ARE IMPROVISING EVERYTHING.

We want them to experience a murder mystery happening right in the moment. We are spinning motives, evidence and alibis as we think of them on stage, when we aren't on stage we are watching the stage to make sure we don't miss a single thing.

We want the audience to feel that excitement and play along with us by guessing 'whodunnit?!'.


What strategies did you consider towards shaping this audience experience?

Wouldn't it be the coolest thing if we get Angela Lansbury to be the detective?

It would make the most incredible audience experience. The minute she returns any of my calls, I swear to God she'll be in the show.

For now, that strategy is on the back-burner.

Do you see your work within any particular tradition?

Yep, the fine literary tradition of Murder-Mystery. Only this Murder-Mystery, one lucky member of the audience decides who lives and who dies.

We take this immensely personally and have a tally we keep each Edinburgh fringe. Steve Clements (Mr. Blue) and Tom Bridges (Mr Orange) got to be the Murderer 5 times each last fringe, the lucky sods!

Degrees of Error is a Bristol ­based Theatre Company, formed in 2010, and have been performing together ever since. Collectively, Degrees of Error represent ​“some of the finest improvisers in the country, their tight ­knit team possessing not just a talent for impromptu humour, but also charismatic convincing acting chops that bring their characters and the period to life. ”​­ ​Daniel Roberts & Chris Turner (Racing Minds).

Fringe experts, they have been awarded Edinburgh's ​‘Fringe Sell­out’ award FOUR years running, and consistently receive five star reviews, garnering such praise as “​by FAR the best improv show that I have seen” (Inter:Mission).

This success has lead them to play their largest venue yet in 2016, to debut their place as a company whose “commitment to excellence means they deserve their opportunity to showcase their talents.” ­ Adam Meggido (Showstoppers)

Think improv equals Clive Anderson and some very questionable 90s fashion choices? Think again! Come spend an evening as a sleuth, and help uncover the sinister motives and evidence of this fabulous ‘whodunnit?’ live show. 

Whether you take your lead from Columbo or Marple, Holmes or Poirot, the cast of ‘Murder, She Didn’t Write’ promise to sweep you up in ​“unrestrained bursts of enjoyment” (Bristol Theatre Review)​, and leave you in unbridled fits of laughter!‘Murder, She Didn’t Write’ ​is currently touring comedy and literature festivals throughout the U.K., and will be at the Edinburgh Fringe from​ 3­29 August,​ in C (+3) at C venues, Chambers St.

This time it's Dramaturgy: All Made Up @ Edfringe 2015

All female improv group All Made Up who are in Edinburgh this year with their latest show #This Time it’s Social to Just The Tonic at The Mash House from 6th August - 30th August 2015


Created by audience suggestions, live Facebook feeds, trending hashtags and even the mighty Google itself, this sell-out social media-inspired extravaganza is quick, intelligent, fun and totally worth tweeting about.

The Fringe
What inspired this production: did you begin with an idea or a script or an object?

An object. The Internet. 

Where does your piece at the fringe fit with your usual work?

It fits perfectly with every stolen second at work spent on Facebook and Twitter. 

What can the audience expect to see and feel - or even think - of your production?

Involved. But not in a get-up-on-stage-scary-way. We get audience suggestions and also make scenes from their friends' boring Facebook statuses. 

The Dramaturgy Questions

 How would you explain the relevance - or otherwise - of dramaturgy within your work?

Improv is the naughty little sister of dramaturgy. Just making stuff up on the spot and constantly breaking all the rules, and your Star Wars figures. 

 What particular traditions and influences would you acknowledge on your work -  have any particular artists, or genres inspired you and do you see yourself within their tradition?

Improv is a bit like clowning. So at some level we've all been influenced by Ronald McDonald. 

Do you have a particular process of making that you could describe - where it begins, how you develop it, and whether there is any collaboration in the process?
Unlike a scripted show, we have to try and get out of our own heads and enjoy fucking it up. That's the tricky bit, especially when every atom in your body is telling you to play it safe and do some tried and tested characters or jokes so you don't look a fool. 

Fools are funny though. 

What do you feel the role of the critic is? 
Once you've had a word with your inner critic, no outside critic can really do much damage. And if they say nice things, we give them a hug.

Are there any questions that you feel I have missed out that would help me to understand how dramaturgy works for you?
We don't over analyse our work too much. We watch, we learn, we experiment, but overthinking can kill comedy. And no one wants that. 

Lashings of Dramaturgy: Amy Cooke-Hodgson @ Edfringe 2015

THE BUMPER BLYTON IMPROVISED ADVENTURE

COUNTING HOUSE: BALLROOM
Free Entry
Thursday 6th – Thursday 20th August 2015 at 4pm

Lashings of spiffing improvised nostalgia

From the creators of award-winning comedy show Austentatious , International smash-hit Showstoppers! and 5-star sell out show Upstairs Downton, comes a brand new retro improv show inspired by the bumper back catalogue of the nation's favourite children’s author, Enid Blyton.

Precisely 60 years after Mrs. Blyton started legal proceedings to quash rumours that she didn’t employ ghost-writers, the cast of improvisers narrowly avoid plagiarism by creating a new story each day inspired by the audience's drawings. 


The Fringe

What inspired this production: did you begin with an idea or a script or an object?
Amy Cooke-Hodgson: Our other/previous shows are long form genre improv shows so we were keen to find a new genre that would sustain at least an hour long story. We enjoy period pieces and knew there was a gap in the market in creating a comedy show that parents could bring children to. Enid Blyton and her canon seemed the perfect place to begin devising a format around. We've spent quite a bit of time reading her works and becoming familiar with her tropes. 

Where does your piece at the fringe fit with your usual work?
All the cast members are improvisers from other shows/companies so everyone comes with a wealth of experience in their field - this show however is a new genre for all of us and we've been working together for a few months to become really au fait with the language,etiquette and mannerisms et c (and each other).

What can the audience expect to see and feel - or even think - of your production?
Hopefully the experience of our show will begin before the audience have even entered the theatre space. Whilst queuing the audience will be treated to cream tea, boiled sweets, a cross word and the opportunity to draw or write their suggestions for the show. Just to help get in to the Jubilee spirit!

Because our show is improvised using audience suggestions, we

hope that the audience will feel that they have witnessed a one off show never to be repeated and that they were part of that magic! Hopefully that will make them want to come again and see how the story may be different a second or third time around.

The Dramaturgy Questions


What particular traditions and influences would you acknowledge on your work -  have any particular artists, or genres inspired you and do you see yourself within their tradition?
Our show is long form impro which means that we take suggestions at the beginning and then weave our ideas together to tell a narrative [not short form games like Who's Line is it Anyway?]. This art form has been popularised by American Impro theatres and so we often use 'U.S' exercises, formats and techniques to help inform our working patterns. 

Impro schools of thought and directors such as Del Close & Keith Johnstone and iO, UCB and Second City have played important parts in shaping our improv brains.Having said that, the show is very British and we have created a 'British' spin on the American style of improvising.

There are of course some super UK impro groups who have paved the way in popularising the art form who we think are great: Austentatious, Showstopper!, The MayDays, Noise Next Door & School of Night. 


 Do you have a particular process of making that you could describe - where it begins, how you develop it, and whether there is any collaboration in the process?
The process of 'making' happens on stage in front of the audience - everyone is party to it - that's the beauty of the art form. Ideas are used to organically grow character and story with actors listening and building on each other's ideas. If a 'mistake' is made - everyone sees it and joy is found in watching it being dealt with by the actors in a reactionary way - often to great comic effect. Impro by it's very nature is collaborative - not just between the actors but with the audience as well.

What do you feel the role of the critic is? 
Improvisers are their own critics throughout the performance [which can sometimes hinder a truly free performance] meaning they are constantly assessing what the story needs, what they can bring, whether their offer was useful or important enough, how they can next best play their part. Because it's a disposable art form, criticism of that exact show is never useful - it'll never happen again. What is helpful is noticing patterns in play, what types of offers/reactions are useful to a narrative and group and which stifle or inhibit the organic growth of the piece.


As a result, it can often be a tricky genre for an outside critic/reviewer to tackle. If there's time, I would always encourage a reviewer to come to see the show more than once - that way they can be convinced it truly is improvised and how the group work together on more than one occasion. 

“With her books still selling around 8 million copies a year and with over 750 to choose from, Enid may have written for children, but her stories still delight grown-up children around the world," says Amy Cooke-Hodgson, co-creator of the show. “With the audience's help there’s no telling what kind of stories we’ll discover each show. After all, her work was banned from more public libraries than those of any other author, so a little creative license and a lot of laughs are par for the course!”

The picnic's packed, the eggs are hard-boiled and mother's provided the ginger beer. So brace yourself for a jolly romp through 1940’s nostalgia where it’s always the summer hols and adventure lies around every corner!

CAST LIST:
Amy Cooke-Hodgson - Chortle Award winning Austentatious, Olivier Award winning La Bohème.
 Richard Soames- BBC3's 'Made For Each Other', Chortle Award nominated Beta Males, Monkey Toast.
 Alison Thea Skot - Funny Women Finalist, BBC Radio4’s So On and So Forth, The Free Association.
 Justin Brett- Showstoppers!, Million Dollar Quartet, Channel 4's Peep Show.
 Heather Urquhart- The Maydays, Ten Thousand Million Love Stories.
 Olli Izod - Musical Comedy Awards Finalist, Betty Blue Eyes, Battle Acts.
 Jinni Lyons - Jinni Lyons is an Only Child (US tour), Destination (Podcast).
 Jonah Fazel - Upstairs Downton, The Butcher of Baker Street, The Holiday After Tomorrow (Podcast).

Dramaturgy Stops the Strange: Adam Meggido @ Edfringe 2015

See Showstopper! The Improvised Musical at the Pleasance Courtyard: One during the Edinburgh Festival Fringe from 5th – 30th August.

The Fringe

What inspired this production: did you begin with an idea or a script or an object?

Adam Meggido: All my projects in improvisation have started with my love of form. In the case of Showstopper, I am a big fan of a good musical (grew up in a musical household) so it was inevitable, upon discovering improvisation eleven years ago, that I should turn my attention to the question ' can you improvise a musical?'. It turns out, you can. Although if you want to do it really well it takes several years of practice and research. 

My new show - The Society Of Strange - reflects my love of the 'Weird Tale' (spooky short stories). So the starting point is the form or genre I would like to spend some years getting to know better and exploring from the inside.

Why bring your work to Edinburgh?

It's the greatest arts festival in the world. It's hard not to come to Edinburgh with a new project.

What can the audience expect to see and feel - or even think - of your production?

Showstopper is a great, wild romp of a show. Fast, funny, entertaining, with lots of music and comedy throughout. As much as it is a 'good time' show we hope the audience will puzzle as to how we did it, how we managed as a team to pull off something that seems so absurd and ambitious. I also hope audiences like the fact that we are willing to risk, to try anything and to fail gloriously. They will definitely get a story that looks and feels like a real musical. We are not just an impro night with songs, we are a full story with characters and stories you can care about. 

See The Society of Strange at C Venues: C+3 during the Edinburgh Festival Fringe from the 18th – 30th August. 

In the case of The School Of Night: Rhapsodes, we want the audience to engage very closely with everything we are doing, especially our analysis of poetic language. We know Shakespeare intimidates many people so we hope to make it accessible by making it up on the spot! And should you come to see The Society Of Strange we hope you will be spooked and unsettled - if only by the new direction we are taking improvisation in!

The Dramaturgy Questions

How would you explain the relevance - or otherwise - of dramaturgy within your work?

An understanding of dramatic structure is completely essential to all three of these shows. We couldn't tell a 'weird tale' in twenty minutes or complete a satisfying musical narrative in seventy minutes if we hadn't worked hard on dramatic structure. Any improviser working in narrative form has to understand structure. 

Not that you ever master it, it is a lifelong investigation. But if you want to really improvise authentic Shakespeare then you have to know the difference between comedy and tragedy. You can't even pastiche Shakespeare effectively without some understanding of dramaturgy, let alone try to summon it from its roots for real in the moment.


What particular traditions and influences would you acknowledge on your work - have any particular artists, or genres inspired you and do you see yourself within their tradition?The Society Of Strange owes a great deal to the likes of HP Lovecraft, Neil Gaiman, Algernon Blackwood, Edgar Allan Poe, Arthur Machen, Mary Shelly, MR James, David Lynch, Thomas Ligotti and WH Hodgson - to name but a few. I hope we are following in their tradition but exploring it in ways completely new. I'm certainly not aware of anything like this being improvised anywhere in the world at the moment.

As regards the nature of our improvisation, well we are not dogmatic. There are thousands of ways to improvise and we don't subscribe to any one method. We have certainly been influenced by the Die-Nasty players of Edmonton, Canada - mainly because they are less interested in 'the rules of improv' and more interested in actually entertaining people. And boy do they do it well! We love those guys.

Do you have a particular process of making that you could describe - where it begins, how you develop it, and whether there is any collaboration in the process?

It completely changes. Each new project has a different set of parameters and new forms to wrestle with. Each group is new - each cast, crew, space etc - it changes all the time. The only 'approach' I ever have is to try to start with a blank canvass. It is always very collaborative - although I have found that if one person is finally in charge, things work better.Collaboration under clear leadership is my favoured way of working. (I hope that doesn't sound too much like the German occupation of France in 1940!)

What do you feel the role of the audience is, in terms of making the meaning of your work?
For me, most theatre fails to address its audience. (Not all - most). There is often an indulgence in the artists' processes which excludes the audience. For me, the audience is utterly essential. They craft, shape and create the show with us. It should belong to them. That's why we keep it fresh every night, so a new group of people can create it and own it. 

Many of us in these three shows worked with the great theatre maverick genius Ken Campbell. Ken was all about the audience. He taught us not ignore them and leave them sitting in the dark, hoping they were having a good time. He taught us how to understand and address them. Theatre belongs to its audiences - and so do our shows.

 Are there any questions that you feel I have missed out that would help me to understand how dramaturgy works for you?

I should add that improvisation seldom allows for editing or rewriting. We set ourselves huge challenges in being able to improvise tight dialogue, music or dramatic structure without the luxury of time to reflect and make changes. It makes the process thrilling but we have to work exceptionally hard to stay on top of story and structure in the numerous pressures of the ever-golden-moment.

The Sinister Tales of Doctor Synistra

Improv with a dark Twist 

As you enter the theatre you will be welcomed by the cast who will show you to your seats and make sure you are sitting comfortably, before summoning Doctor Synistra: 

Whoever wears the hat tells the tale. 

Whoever wears the hat is Doctor Synistra. 

The possessive host of the show will then force members of the cast to tell improvised horror stories based on suggestions from the audience. Be prepared for laughs and scares! 

Where did the idea come from?

“The idea of Doctor Synistra came from a love of the hosted classic horror films and TV programs (Tales of the Unexpected, Dr Terrible’s House of Horrible, Tales From the Crypt and, even Elvira – Mistress of the Dark) and the curiosity of using a such a character to direct the improvisers on stage. It has been a lot of fun to develop the show, and, because it is improvisation, to continuously learn from it.”

Who is Doctor Synistra?
“This is a character who loves horror stories. He sets the rules for the stories and improv games and does so with horrific glee. The most important factor is that the improviser playing Doctor Synistra plays the character their way. This gives us a variety of Synistras.”

What can happen in a show?

“Strangely anything can happen. Our maddest show (and bloodiest) came from the audience suggestion of ‘Rubber Duck’. That show featured scenes of a crew inside a toy submarine who blew up their owners.”


“…and I love it when a story has a twist to it. There is something really satisfying about that.”

The Sinister Tales of Doctor Synistra

Venue: Spotlites @ The Merchants’ Hall, Venue 278, 22 Hanover St

Dates: Sunday 16th - Monday 31st August 2015 (preview on 16th)

Time: 19:00 (55 mins) Tickets: £7.50 / concs £6.00 / £24 Family


Venue box office: 0131 220 5911 Fringe box office: 0131 226 0000 /