At Edinburgh Fringe this year, there was a show that I watched stood out to me for it’s creativity and the innovative ways that improv was implemented throughout. You can read the review of the show here and I can honestly say it was in my top 3 of my favourite shows this year. The one thing that constantly stuck in the back of my head when I first started watching it was, Improvisers can learn so much from this show.

Object Work

The one thing that astounded me about Steen’s show was the object work. It was just the simple things such as driving a car that had a huge impact on me. His simplistic movements made it incredibly effective and brought the car to life – the secret was that he played the car as true / reality and just by playing it simple created this reality that dragged the audience in. I think sometimes with improv we forget that simplicity is sometimes the strongest option in making something effective.

Technology

Throughout the show, Steen interacts with audio and technology and not in the ways that you may expect. Audio tech can bring a show to life and elevate it if used correctly or innovatively. Steen’s show explores new and unique ways of using it to interactive with an improv audience which was refreshing.

Audience Suggestions

The final thing I learnt from this show was that there are so many ways that you can gather or even use audience suggestions and the innovative ways are endless. When you put on a show or are planning one, think about how you can use you suggestions and how they can stand out from other acts in the way you use them. That is exactly what Steen did (and I don’t want to give away his show in case you get a chance to see it) and it created this improv magic for the audience.