Last night saw several up and coming comedy improv students taking to the stage (hypothetically, as it’s not really a stage, more of an extended floor space) at the Crescent Arts Centre in Belfast as part of the Belly Laughs Festival. These students have been going to comedy improv lessons taught at the Crescent Arts Centre by tutor Rosie Pelan, who is trained in the art of improv herself and has a professional acting career of 20 years behind her as well. Rosie is also our host for the evening, introducing the games and the players and generally just making sure that everything goes to plan. Which, at an improv show, that can often be harder than it sounds.
To start the night, magician John Ussher (who later joins the players) shows us a few tricks. John is a graduate of the Las Vegas Magic School, is a fully trained Stage Hypnotist and frequently tours the USA performing magic for the masses so we’re in good company. To be completely honest, I’m not quite sure what to expect, from the props I can see (a deck of cards, a black sack, a table and a modelling balloon) I’m not expecting too much at all. Yet, a few minutes later I find myself completely astounded as he not only produces a lemon from his shoe, but then proceeds to cut it open and pull out a twenty pound note previously signed by a member of the audience. Truly impressive.
Now on to the main event, there’s not an awful lot you can say about a comedy improv show, as it’s never going to be the same twice. But the players, although somewhat nervous at first, soon get into the swing of things and gave it their all (sometimes a bit too much…with a few of the games/scenes being over quite quickly). Having seen the likes of WonderFrog perform recently, I am very aware just how funny this type of comedy can be and it is obvious that these guys are still learning how it’s done. Yet, despite a few awkward pauses and jokes that didn’t quite hit the spot, the audience seem to be thoroughly enjoying themselves.
The group of performers is surprisingly large for what can be an extremely daunting task, which probably makes the show a lot harder to perform as each person has to vie for attention, but over all they all do extremely well. I look forward to seeing the group again as they progress in their training, and maybe we’ll see some real comedy stars produced in the near future.
