Alcock Improv, What A Crew!

Many improv shows usually have as part of the show sections where there is some degree of audience participation. For some people this is an uncomfortable experience since they hate being called upon. Thus they try to sit somewhere beyond the third row (this is completely fair, given that to some troops nothing is off limits, even that last Botox Cheshire appointment you went to). Well if you have ever seen Alcock Improv one thing you will quickly realize is that, with people who are not too keen on participation in the show, they use their unique charm and warmth to drag them out of their impersonal state to join in the fun.

If you want to have an end to your day that involves grinning then Alcock Improv will provide you with just that. Much of their show involves sheer improv silliness and leans heavily on suggestions from their audiences. So the show will be what you want it to be in a way.

It is not difficult for audiences to become a part of the show and have a grand time with it. The group incorporates a lot of games that makes many feel as if they were back in school on the playground. So just about anything goes when you attend one of their performances.

What you get with this group is improv at its finest. You will not see the same type of show every night since it changes the same way the audience changes. Each member of the group brings their unique improv style to the performance which adds to the group’s uniqueness. None of them try to upstage the other and they work well together each feeding off the other.

Alcock Improv deserves to be seen by all as I certainly would recommend them. If you can get past your own fears of being called upon you will have some serious fun. They are easily one of the best improv groups around.

Cheekish Productions, Union Theatre, London

Cheekish Productions Presents

Shoot/Get Treasure/Repeat By Mark Ravenhill and

Eschara By Phillip Whiteman

At The Union Theatre, London until 24^th April, Tuesday-Saturday 7:30pm

Cheekish Production’s current work at the Union Theatre is a series of six short plays, three by Mark Ravenhill and three by Phillip Whiteman.

This comparatively new company have produced an evening of theatre which succeeds in being both exceptionally moving and highly absorbing. The combination of Mark Ravenhill and Phillip Whiteman’s writing works well and while both playwright’s have their own distinct styles they seem to share the same sense of immediacy and bite. Perhaps it is a brave and somewhat audacious idea to place an established writer’s work alongside that of a younger lesser known writer, but if it is a risk then it is a risk which has paid off and never for a moment did one half feel weaker than the other.

All of the plays are a response to issues surrounding the war in Iraq and specifically the July 7^th terrorist attacks on London so obviously this does not make for a light hearted evening. That being said there are some striking moment of much needed levity and black comedy. In Ravenhill’s Fear and Misery we watch a highly strung couple try to deal with the stifling sense of anxiety bordering on paranoia which they now feel on a daily basis as a result of the attacks. The couple are sharply and satirically drawn by Ravenhill, and while we laughed at their over reactions they were also very recognisable. This is an important slice of post 7/7 London life to parody and to document. The image of the soldier at the end of Fear and Misery was stunning and Ayling is obviously a director with a very clear vision.

The style of both playwrights (in particular Ravenhill) necessitates punchy quick delivery and this was a style which Ayling and the company committed to fully. While it was almost always very effective occasionally lines were lost and the audience could not keep up. The company can afford to let the piece breathe and to play the pauses (short or otherwise) on occasion safe in the knowledge that they have well and truly earnt them. However this is a small matter, and on the whole it was a relentless and brilliantly powerful evening.

Of all of the six short plays the last, Renaissance (by Phillip Whiteman), hit me the hardest. In a way it was the most human scene of the evening and though it was the least bombastic it packed the hardest punch. Lindesay Mace as the mother clearing the room and the luxury bedding of her dead son conveyed the emotional complexities of the character in a detailed and impressively truthful style. Daphne Kouma as the sister struggling to understand and desperate to help gave an equally sensitive portrayal and the tension between the two was palpable.

Cheekish Productions have toured this series of plays around the country but here in London it has more resonance than anywhere and the final image of the play literally made me weep. This is a hard hitting and powerful play by a company with a bright future ahead of them. An audacious piece of modern theatre.