So, as I’m writing this blog post we’re just a few days away from Extreme Improv’s big return to the London stage, which will also be our debut at the Cockpit Theatre on Sunday 17th October and Sunday 24th October 8pm both days.
And to get the plug out the way early, here’s where you can get tickets for the show:
https://www.thecockpit.org.uk/show/extreme_improv_comedy_show
Buy now with the code: IMPROV241 to get two tickets for the price of one!
OK, plug done, but plugging the shows aren’t really the point of this post. This post is more just to share some thoughts of my feelings about what going back live to stage means, and why now is the right time to do so.
I know many groups have had shows over the course of the pandemic, with outdoor shows, socially distanced shows and shows with visors on or with limited cast or audience, and I think it’s great that they were all able to do that.
It’s not that I didn’t consider any of these options, or that I was insistent that we wait until we could be back to “nearly normal”. In fact, there were several times I had shows lined up in later 2020 or early 2021, but every time they would get delayed by venues.
Baby Steps
This probably more than anything made me be cautious to jump into getting these live shows up and running, as running live events can be an expensive endeavour, especially if they get cancelled or postponed. Money spent on venue and festival fees, posters, flyers, roller banners, online ads, publicity material distribution, rehearsals and more all was wasted when the pandemic hit, and unfortunately happened a second time when there was a false start for rescheduled dates that got delayed again. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice…shame on me!
That’s one of the reasons why I loved the discovery of virtual theatre and doing improv online. I’ve legitimately been able to produce all of Extreme Improv’s 500 odd virtual shows for about the same cost as would be required for 1 maybe 2 of our bigger in person shows. They’ve also allowed performers from around the world to take part, for us to try different formats, host festivals online and a bunch of other benefits.
Doing virtual shows isn’t the same as doing on stage shows, but it’s not that one is better than the other. They both are great in their own ways. But despite my love of doing the online shows, and the worldwide community, and friends made doing online shows, the amount of times performers and audience have asked when we’ll be live on stage again has only increased with time.
If Not When
For me a return to on stage shows was only a matter of when, not if, but to answer the question of why now?
It’s simple…we had the bookings. Yes when things had been rescheduled over and over and many ended up being cancelled outright I kinda just accepted that it wasn’t time. But with more people vaccinated and restrictions lessened there were 4 shows still booked and the opportunity looked right to say…screw it, let’s try to make these happen!
Truthfully if they hadn’t been rescheduled until next year I wouldn’t have rushed to get others in place and I’m very happy to take a baby steps approach to the reintroduction to live shows.
These shows at the Cockpit Theatre may be our return to the London stage, but they’re not the first shows back for Extreme Improv. In late September our true first show back was at the ATG Aylesbury Waterside Theatre in Buckinghamshire. This is a lovely venue we’ve played at several times before and was a nice warm up for our return to London.
The planning for that show, and these in London has been both a nostalgic trip down memory lane, and one filled with mixed emotions.
Normality Returns?
I have excitement for this return to “normality”. I’ve been an actor for 18 years, and first created what is now known as Extreme Improv in 2010. For me to return to a live stage after 18 months away from it was a truly special moment. We had a great crowd in Aylesbury. Many people who had seen us before and also lots of new people seeing us for the first time. They had missed seeing live theatre as much as we had performing, and it was a room of people who were all happy to be part of the experience.
I also have fear for returning to stage. Something that not everyone may know, but something that I have shared with cast members is that my health isn’t what it was the last time we were live on stage. I was poorly over the course of the pandemic and have felt for a long time that I’ve been affected in a few ways. I won’t go into all the details as that’s not the point of this post, but before the live show in Aylesbury I was worried I wouldn’t be able to do what I did on stage before.
When it came to the show I made a few choices to adapt what I’d do to cope and not push myself, and these worked well. Certainly, in the few days that followed I learned more about my limits and that I had pushed myself a bit too much, but I guess there was also a sense of both system shock for doing something I hadn’t done in a long time and also the sense of adrenaline and familiarity like how people say riding a bike always comes back to you.
Chellenges Ahead
I also had and still have the fear that despite any efforts there may or may not be an audience for the shows. Even though Extreme Improv has continually done shows throughout the pandemic and is probably the most prolific source of online shows out there, there are a lot of differences between our online shows and our in person shows.
Before the pandemic we would have regular audience members and regular cast members which haven’t translated 1 to 1 from stage to online. Many of our regular online performers are international, and the same goes for the audience. Will our previous audience remember us? The show at the Waterside in Aylesbury tells me yes, but London is a different animal altogether.
London is huge and the competition there is immense. There will be dozens of shows all throughout the city and probably several improv shows will be within that. Add to that that these will be our first shows at the Cockpit Theatre ever, and we can’t really have any expectations for a built-in audience.
One of the things I’m most excited about for the new shows is that it will be a chance to meet many of the performers who have only done Extreme Improv shows online up to this point. There are performers from all over the country and all over the world who I’d love to get on stage with, and the plan is that in 2022 and beyond to have more shows outside London which will allow all the awesome performers a chance to do the shows live. It may take a little while to play with everyone if they’re currently in North America, India, Australia or across Europe, but eventually it’d be brilliant to get everyone together.
This is a new chapter in the story of Extreme Improv, and whatever happens it is certainly exciting.
Where To See Extreme Improv
If you want to be there to support us in these exciting live shows and our return to stage in London here’s the details you need to know!
Extreme Improv Comedy Show
Sunday October 17th, Sunday October 24th and Friday December 3rd 8pm each night
Cockpit Theatre, London UK
Tickets available at:
https://www.thecockpit.org.uk/show/extreme_improv_comedy_show
Get 2for1 tickets with this code: IMPROV241
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