Looking somewhat older than this rather outdated publicity shot, Paul Merton strode out onto the Lowry's Lyric Theatre stage this evening to a crowd of imrpovised comedy lovers, and before introducing tonight's 'chums' [the improvisers he will be working alongside] he extremely briefly, but expertly warmed us up.
His chums were Lee Simpson, Mike McShane, Richard Vranch and Merton's wife, Suki Webster, with Kirsty Newton providing musical accompaniment on the keyboard.
Impro Chums has been around since their first Edinburgh Festival gig in 2008, and it shows no signs of slowing down. The show is basically a series of familiar short-form impro games that even if you haven't had to play them as part of your training at Drama School, you will undoubtedly have played similar things as children or seen many of them on the absolutely first class TV comedy impro show that was, Whose Line Is It Anyway?.
The show may have Merton's name in the title, but frankly this evening he proved to be the least agile imrpoviser of them all, instead supplying the caustic dead-pan one-liners and put-downs for which he has become so famous. Merton has created his own comedic persona, and it is almost as if the real Paul Merton is hiding behind it, affraid to come out.
The games, the genres, and the laughs came fast and furious and the two hour show sped along at apace. As usual with this style of impro show, suggestions of styles, lines, etc etc are required from the audience and bravo to the troupe for including absolutely every area of the theatre in this regard.
One game saw Paul Merton having to guess (all from audience suggestion) that he was working for Microsoft as a deliverer of new wheelie bins containing teddy bears to houses in Hemel Hempstead whilst wearing a boiler-suit and a top hat! - yeah, you had to have been there!
Nothing was off-limits for this talented bunch - they could weave a story from anything about anything. Although it was made quite clear at the start that tonight's performance would be an anti-Brexit and anti-Trump show; and so when one of them inadvertently mentioned a certain British politician he was immediately booed off the performance area.
The troupe are all extemely fast-thinking, quick-witted, intelligent actors who are knowledgeable in so many different fields of reference - they have to be since they don't know what is going to be thrown at them! - and McShane and Webster impressed greatly as they changed their impro together from Musical Theatre to Music Hall to Opera with elan and aplomb.
The evening finished with a 'for one evening only' performance of the little-known Shakespeare play, 'Richard The Girth' which saw Mike McShane as King Richard determined to lose some weight in order to woo his princess (blue-bloods always marry family!), only for it to all end tragically over the death of a table-clothed nobleman and a gay marriage! - again, you had to have been there!
Summing-up, this was a one-off unique performance from some of the country's top improvisers, and the audience loved it! Zany, zingy, zesty and .....ah, I'm out, I can't think of another Z! - Go see it if you get the chance!
Reviewer - Matthew Dougall
on - 12/5/19
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