This week it was show time! Punderstandably had their set at The Miller Launchpad where we had 12 mins to show our set! We have a how that we have got down to a good 11 minutes and a structure where the audience know it is ending which is nice because they know sort of whats coming and what to expect.

The day was full of crazy last minute things that happened meaning we had to come up with last minute plans and alter the original line up that we had as our main presenter Ben wasn’t feeling well. In fact, he was feeling so rough he had actually lost his voice and being the lead presenter / Master of the Keys for the evening – that meant a problem.

We had to come up with two plans – one for if Ben could be part of the show and one for if he had to cancel last minute. The first plan was that if Ben could perform he would go into the parts that were non-verbal. Luckily for us, we have two games that are physical with a couple of no talking parts so we would re-assign the Master of the Keys and jiggle the line up around for the two games. The second plan was that if Ben had to drop out completely we would work out how to fill the gaps among ourselves. Luckily for us, Ben was able to perform so we did the first plan – no speaking parts for Ben.

The set went really well, the one thing I love about my improv troupe is that we have a lot of energy and enthusiasm when we approach the stage and we get a lot of lovely comments and feedback because of this.

The set consisted of three games – the first one was very physical which consisted of my moving around a lot and copying everything that Ben did, the second was based on a sport commentator and the final game was based on Caroline going on a date with someone with three different personality traits played by three different people.

From this weeks show we got a lot of great feedback – we got comments from the audience that they really enjoyed it and one person even said that our format should really have its own evening!

So as you can imagine, we have big things planned for 2018, we already have a few things in the pipeline but there is one thing for sure – i love my improv family they are so fun to perform with!

Case Study – Homer Simpson

This week as part of the date game I had to play Homer Simpson – to me this was pretty easy to do. The Simpsons have been a huge part of my life since they first came on in the UK (when they first appeared on BBC Two, so that was quite a while ago). I used to have a lot of the themed sets on VHS and what I used to do a lot as a child was draw cartoon characters.

I remember from a very young age that I was introduced to drawing cartoons and me and mum used to sit there and copy freehand Mickey Mouse and other Disney characters of the VHS cases. When The Simpsons came around I made it my mission to learn how to draw them freehand and did it so much that today I can draw Homer Simpson, Bart and sometimes Marge off by heart without looking at a photo.

One of the fun things about playing as Homer Simpson at this weeks show meant that I could have a lot of fun with it – I know his characteristics inside out so it was really a matter of choosing which ones to use and the audience will automatically get. It got lots of laughs although I am sad as i realise now i never said doh. DOH! I did manage however to get a lot in thought like wahoo, mmmmm, donuts, grandpa, why you little, and many more.