The year 2020 has been a very unusual one and the fact that a lot of festivals have been postponed this summer we wanted to do things a bit different. Due to the fact we cannot use this time to interview and promote acts heading to the fringe, we thought we would use this time to celebrate all forms of comedy! So over the next month we are interviewing an array of acts with some fun questions so you can get to know them a little bit more! Today we talk to an improv act that are based in Manchester – Absolute Onions

Hello there tell me all about your group!

Hello! We are Absolute Onions, made up of Jen, Marie, Patrick, James and Myself. We do longform narrative improv based on a karaoke classic.

What are your favourite things about being in your troupe?

I love the friendships I’ve developed being in a small unit and I like discovering some of the interesting taste in music our audiences have.

Describe each member of the improv acts by describing their characters by what animal they would be?

I’m not sure about animals, but we have been trying to Spice Girls-ify ourselves by trying to give each person a different onion.

I think Jen would be Spring Onion, Patrick would be Red Onion, James – Pickled Onion, Marie would be French Onion, and i think i would be Potato Onion.

What has been your favourite show so far?

We did one show inspired by Aphex Twin’s ‘Come To Daddy’ that resulted in a death through a fish gutting machine!

How was your group founded?

We were all performing with ImproQuo and we all wanted to do even more shows.

What is your favourite thing about performing improv?

I love the things you can create with group-mind – things that are bigger than all of you could create on your own.

What is the most important skill you have learnt and why?

Listening – it’s really, really important in improv and really important in life. It’s helped me develop some amazing friendships. Listening to yourself is equally important too!

Describe your group for people who have not seen you live in 5 words beginning with the letter M?

Music Makes Moments Materialise Magically

You can only watch three other improv acts for the rest of your life – who would they be and why?

I would probably choose some of my biggest influences – TJ & Dave, Wild Horses and Dummy, to continue to be inspired.

What makes a good improv scene?

Great game play mixed with some truthful character moments.

What has been the best suggestion you have been given by an audience?

I’d say Come To Daddy – it inspired one of our favourite shows.

Dream location to perform a show and why?

I think Jen in Absolute Onions once had a dream that we performed in a castle – so that literally would be a dream location.

If people want to find out more about your group where can they go on the socials?

We are at:

http://www.facebook.com/AbsoluteOnions/

https://www.instagram.com/AbsoluteOnions/

Finally, which improv group would you as a team love to do a collaboration with and why?

Rachel and Alex of Sex, Lies and Improvisation and Joe and Charlie of Long Boi and The Noise have been very supportive of some of the things we have been doing in Manchester, so maybe we should set up a Trans Pennine supergroup!

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