Improv Review ...Because Improv is Art, Dammit

These stalwarts of the Chicago improv scene showed what two people can do when they portray interesting characters and put them in interesting situations. The most brilliant aspect of their set was the mutual understanding and enjoyment of working with each other that they displayed. Scenes were not created by one or the other, but built together, each putting down the mortar where the other’s brick would fall.

Both Bob Dassie and Stephanie Weir have studied at Improv Olympic and the influence of Del Close’s Harold format was apparent as scenes tumbled onto and into each other with a seamlessness that built to both enjoyable climaxes, and unexpected anti-climaxes.

Starting with a shared soliloquy, the two effectively disregarded the large stage and had the audience intent on the small area where the story unfolded. And it unfolded wisely and wittily, with a tale of two Wal-mart employees who were blissfully unaware that their hazing tactics were soon to cause the suicide of a fellow employee. WeirDass refused to bow to the politically correct even as the anecdote became bittersweet for the sadness and unpopularity of the deceased.

Ms. Weir constantly raised the stakes in scenes just as they seemed to be taking a turn for the normal. Cleaning a movie theater was interrupted by the unexpected find of a baby under the seats, and an office romance failed to blossom despite her seeing “the face of God in [her] waste.”

Strange scenes became stranger, and tender scenes were kept tender thanks to the respect Mr. Dassie and Ms. Weir had for each other, and their audience. Every choice they made was riskier than the last, but fortunately not for them.

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