The Improvised Shakespeare Show
Tonight, I was with CT for Shake it Up - the Improvised Shakespeare Show - at the Hen & Chickens. Now, it's a not inconsiderable journey up there - and I left it a bit late to head off. And this would be the evening that there was one of those proverbial gaps in the service! So I was late enough getting there that it would have been a bit of a rush to eat properly - I headed for Pret. Where they didn't have their nice chocolate bars, damnit - I had a packet of crisps instead, after my sandwich. Not bad.
It's a massively inconvenient junction for pedestrians who want to cross to the other side, as they can only walk on half of it.. but I did make it over to the pub eventually. Which was crammed, as ever:
First off, I went to have my name checked off, and pay for my membership card - good for a year, my last one had expired already. Mind you, the card does give you a 10% discount on drink - I think there's a £1.50 maximum on that, which is the cost of the card. I stood at the bar to drink mine - for most of the time left before the show, there was nowhere to sit. It's a tiny pub anyway - great atmosphere, though! When a seat came available, I figured it wasn't worth taking it - it wasn't long until 7.25, when the bell would ring to indicate the house was open.
In the meantime, someone from the show came around asking people who were attending the show whether they wouldn't mind filling out one of the strips of paper she was distributing - she helpfully gave out pens as well. The strips of paper all had helpful prompts on them - such as "Methinks that.." or "I feel as though.." - we had to finish the sentence. Then she reclaimed the paper - and pens - and took 'em upstairs, where the cast took charge of them just before the show started. Drinks can be taken up in plastic, which is just as well, as I hadn't had time to finish mine - and we were asked to fill the theatre from the front. Which was fine by me.
Ah, Shake It Up are fantastic improv artists - naturally entertaining, with a good base of material to work from. They now start - sensibly - with a broader base, initially giving the audience the choice, simply, of comedy, history, or tragedy. I thought they might go comedy, but no, it was tragedy (which did actually turn out very comical, of course). Next, they ask for the name of a "nemesis" - someone shouted out the name of a horrible woman they work with, so that was used. Finally, they ask for a location - Lordy if they didn't end up with Croydon. We had great fun when the actors asked what Croydon was famous for.. they basically went with Ikea..
And so we had the Tragedy of (I forget the lady's name) of Croydon! Who falls in love with Lord Ikea. And oh hell, it was hilarious. As I say, they're naturally funny - I kept an eye out for them sniggering on stage, and they did mostly manage to avoid it: but you can tell they love working together. Some music is always thrown in, and some singing.. and it being a tragedy, there were, on this occasion, a number of deaths. And of course, every now and again they whip out an audience quote from their britches, which sometimes work very well.. mine came out right at the end, and as it happened, I think it was perfect timing! Well, the character was Lord Ikea, who had just been murdered and was dying theatrically - and the quote was "I need a body double". Well yes!
I highly recommend this group, who play here the first Monday of every month - they are very good at what they do, it's very polished at this stage, and it's still cheap. I had a great night. It was nostalgic on the way home too, passing areas I used to know very well and seeing how they've changed.. there's been so much development around Old Street in the meantime.
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