Improv Review ...Because Improv is Art, Dammit

Take ten good improvisors. Send them to Amsterdam for a couple of years to perform in English for the Dutch for eight shows a week. Return them to Chicago. Have them performing first on opening night in front of a sold out, overwhelmingly "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" crowd. The result is a bunch of polished improvisors who know how to work a large room and can do some kick-ass shortform work.

Many of the structures Boom Chicago performed were right out of an improv 101 class, and they were all executed perfectly. In addition, they performed simple structures with unique twists, and threw in some more complex structures as well. I began to suspect that these beginner games were selected specifically to take improv back to it’s modern beginnings, and show what perfect improv looks like.

An example of one of these twists was the first game, three-headed expert. The twist was that they would spell out a mock Dutch word, and then provide the English definition, and use it in a sentence. This provided a good warm up for the sell-out crowd. This was followed by a game of Last Line/First Line Freeze Tag in which every scene was sharp and not one was a let down. Even in World’s Worst, a game that often resembles stand-up comedy, the jokes were crisp and clear. (Personal favorite: World’s Worst Hockey Player – "Hello, I’m from the United States of America")

They then kicked it up a bit with an odd little structure, a hybrid of "Hitchhiker" and "Quadrants", where four scenes were performed in succession, which scene being moved forward being based on the position of the players. (I know it’s a tortured description, e-mail me and I’ll send you a diagram.) The players did some sharp scene work here, listening to each other and making strong connections between the four scenes, and keeping each story moving.

The show closed with a musical number that brought down the house as the troupe performed three songs in different styles (disco, rap and zydeco) a cappella, providing all the instrumentation with their voices and bodies, as well as doing structured, funny songs. Maybe it's the dykes, maybe it's the legalized pot, but Holland has a nice effect on American improvisors.

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