Even more surprisingly, there was no meth in sight. You could be forgiven for thinking some chemicals were responsible for the amount of energy and enthusiasm on stage, but all performers were naturally high from doing what they love (which is essentially; “making stuff up”) in front of a packed audience on one of the most iconic stages in Australia; The Enmore Theatre. International and local superstars in both music and comedy have graced the stage, and it is pretty much the dream venue for any musician or comedian with their eyes set on the limelight. So, in short, yes they were under the influence, but of bright lights, laughter, applause and the adrenaline of literally not having a script or safety net.
I am referencing the wrong TV show though. The thematic focus of the night was very much the 50th Anniversary of Doctor Who. Doctor-mania has clearly swept the country over the last few weeks, and the team behind The Cranston Cup rightly decided that was the right nerdy phenomenon to tap into.
As the house lights dropped, that famous, and instantly recognisable theme music started booming while multi-coloured lights flashed, smoke bellowed, a Dalek scattered across the stage, and a spotlight revealed the iconic phone box that can do so much more than take international calls.
Then out through the Tardis, stepped the stars of the night, all dressed up to the theme of their team name and dancing to the music, so exuberantly, that it really was, to paraphrase the famous t-shirt slogan, “like no one was watching”. But we were, and we loved it, as we matched their enthusiasm with cheers and applause.
A mainstay of Impro Australia, Jim Fishwick, hosted the evening, dressed as the time lord himself, accompanied by the musically improvisational wonder that is Bryce Halliday, along with his ‘Dalek voice‘ that was a bit of thematic fun, but sometimes difficult to comprehend.
Jim proved to be a loveable, relatable host - the kind of affable, light-hearted, sort of ‘all-over-the-place’ everyman, trying the suppress the crippling excitement and fear that comes with the task of hosting an event in front of close to probably 1500 people at The Enmore Theatre, with minimal script.
The Cranston Cup is the culmination of a year long competition, where teams of improvisors go up against each other in heats comprised of game structures designed to test their wits, sanity, ability to think on their feet and most importantly, their ability to work together as a team, using intuition and their sense of trust in one another to guide their way through entirely improvised scenes.
Throughout the year, the teams are eliminated and whittled down to four for the grand final. Running alongside this competition is The Fresh Cranston, for new impro performers, who have come through both Impro Australia’s courses and University groups. The Fresh Cranston participants compete for just two spots in the grand final.
The Fresh competition was up first, with the teams being; ‘Kavalier’, comprised of students from recent courses, and ‘The Browntown Three’ from The University of New South Wales (UNSW). Both teams were great and proved that they would all be back on the stage alongside the professionals before too long. They are definitely impro talents to keep an eye on. The highlight for me was probably ‘The Browntown Three‘ (the night’s victors) portraying a comically ‘short staffed‘ French revolution, with dodgy accents ahoy.
Then came the main competition, which really just seemed a front for a showcase of incredibly talented professionals with an intrinsic sense of timing and intuition. It was reportedly the tightest, highest scoring grand finals in some time, although I’d say the judges had a habit of scoring too high throughout the night, which meant that the truly show-stopping performances didn’t have the differentiation in the point-scale that they deserved. However, to quote the famous improvisational TV show ‘Whose Line Is It Anyway?’, it’s a competition “where the points don’t matter”.
There was no bitter rivalry. All players laughed, clapped and cheered each other along as scenes reached new heights of hilarity and ridiculousness. Players from other teams would even regularly jump in to support a scene with a human or inanimate prop that would help enhance the scene without taking away from the focal players.
Winners on the night were Edan Lacey and Nick O’Donnell, aka ‘Hans and Otto’, who were also crowd favourites with their comic accents, flamboyant showmanship and skin tight body suits that left nothing to the imagination. They were separated by one point from very well respected, award winning fellow improvisers Bridie Connell and Steen Raskopoulos, aka ‘The Bridie of FrankenSteen.’
Personal highlights on the night included:
- ‘Hans and Otto‘ bickering in the womb in 1914 (yes, you heard me right), and in another scene, staging a musical about a prison guard with a hidden affection for his prisoner.
- ‘The Bridie of FrankenSteen‘ taking on a spanish soap opera, with the ever present threat of rampaging bulls.
- ‘Pat Magee and Friends’ trying to keep straight faces while performing a scene using a phone from the audience, containing text messages sent between two friends, sharing way too much information. Why the poor girl even handed her phone in; I’ll never know. Hilarious.
- ‘Middle Rage’ in a musical about a young ambitious ‘Tokyo train pusher’, who literally crams commuters on the train (which I learnt is actually a real thing), with participation from the rest of the cast.
Theatresports has to be seen to be believed and the above descriptions don’t even come close to capturing the comic chaos that erupts on stage.
Theatresports runs all year, every year, in various forms, so get out there and catch a show. Check www.improaustralia.com.au for event information.
By Dane Hiser
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