All this month we are talking to acts that are performing at the Liverpool Improv Festival which takes place between May 7th – 10th. We will be speaking to acts every Wednesday and Thursday at 6:30pm on the run up to the festival. Today we speak to ImprompTwo & Co.

Tell Us about:

Your latest improv show you are bringing to Liverpool Improv Fest ? 

ImprompTwo & Co is a new group established under the well-known improvised theatre group, ImprompTwo. They have been joined by seven amazingly talented improvisers, of which five will be performing the original show, THE SINNER’S TABLE. This show explores what happens at the table at a wedding where they typically put all the people left behind – the loud uncle, the quiet aunt, the single who can’t get a date to save their lives, etc. 

Your favourite suggestion you have been given?

Community. It inspired a show about the community that is built even within a group of homeless people. Very emotional show full of discovery. 

Your favourite venue to perform at:

Liverpool – and we’re not just saying that. The sound and lighting people are on another planet, they’re so good, and they make us look good. Plus, it’s a big wide stage with backstage entrances, and you can walk into the audiences – a real theatre. They’re are many beautiful stages we’ve been lucky to play on, but Liverpool is a trifecta.

Improv hero:

We don’t believe in heroes, but favorites? Many. David Escobedo for his intriguing questions on The Improv Boost that spur discussion and debate. Joe Bill, who implemented the international Story Chain during the pandemic. Any improviser who starts a podcast or blog to provide opportunities for community building and questioning this thing called improv. The often unsung backstage heroes (yeah, we said it) whose names are not often mentioned but who create environments for us every time we get onstage.

Plus, the musicians who provide scores, or underscoring, or pure improvisational music – they enhance any show we’re lucky to be in with them.  If you want to call anyone heroes, it’s the producers of any evening, weekend, month, festival or year, who take on the abysmal administrivia so that we improvisers can have a place to play. 

Dream venue to play at:

A small-ish theatre, say 100 seats, but with beautiful comfy chairs so people want to stay; big offstage wings with a cross-over behind center stage; a full backstage full of props and furniture that you can grab at any time; a changing series of scrims that could drop down for any show, and change throughout the night; paid lighting, sound, and musical expertise that knows improv inside and out, and want to play with you as much as you want to have them; and it’s full every night – did I mention that?

Describe the feeling you get when you walk on stage to do a show:

Pure happiness. Fulfillment. Delight. Discovery. Excitement.

The hardest improv suggestion to perform and why:

Be funny. It killed joy for so long because you try too hard to make it so, but then we threw it off and discovered that true humor comes organically.

Essential items you always take with you to a show?

Nothing constant. Depends on the show, and neither of us (we can’t speak for the company) is superstitious about taking things that might make a difference. For us, the only essential is time to warm up. 

Describe your fans in three words:

Surprisingly eclectic! (did it in two)

What we can look forward to from you this year: 

New work with our company, ImprompTwo & Co, and new formats from ImprompTwo. We’re also bringing new workshops that lean into our mandate of “unapologetically theatrical.”

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