IMPerium

If you've ever been to one of the Imp's performances before, you'll know the usual drill: a handful of shouted suggestions from the audience inspires a series of improvised sketches; these become increasingly bizarre and hilarious as each performer frantically adapts to their companions’ wild improvisations. This night, however, was slightly different. Rather than solicit suggestions for every scene, the entire night was based on an audience stream-of-conciousnes produced in the first few minutes. Armed with “jam”, “sugar”, “wasps” and “Greek” (with an occasional mention of “Leviathan” - trust an Oxford audience!), the Imps proceeded to produce an hour and a half of connected sketches, sometimes surreal, sometimes witty but always engaging.

The intimate space of the Burton Taylor studio was well used by a slick, inventive cast. The extremely minimalist staging - only three black blocks and a single chequered scarf for set/props - worked excellently, with mime and expression serving to delineate characters and items. Performances buzzed with energy and invention. It was all backed up by a very talented keyboard performance that helped to set the mood for various scenes.

Occasionally it felt as though this very enthusiasm interfered with the flow of the production as a whole; the sketches were funniest when they had an added sense of continuity. When a character from an earlier scene reappeared, they were often able to get a laugh simply by adopting a particular gait; by contrast, scenes introducing new characters or situations often felt fumbled. The kind of awkwardness that can plague improvisation often predominated, especially in the first half hour. It wasn’t so much that the cast needed to warm up, as that they needed to gel with each other. Perhaps because of the promise of creating “a new world” before our eyes, it took a while for each actor to get on the same page, and the pacing and humour suffered for it.

Unfortunately, this was one of the weakest productions I've seen from the Imps. It's a testament to their comedic and improvisational skills that Imperium was still witty, engaging and in places downright hilarious. Although each performance is different, I would still highly recommend this production. The moments of serendipity as audience suggestions, improvisations and cast performances come together to make a bizarre, brilliant scene are well worth the wait.

Alwyn Collinson (DI Staff), 25/02/10

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