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Thursday, December 13, 2012
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G THE Kaiser Chiefs are the first act onfirmed to o pllay Ne ewmarket Niights co in 2013. even Frriday evvening co oncerts arre Se pllanned fo or Ne ewmarket Ra acecourses ext ye ear, wiith th he Ka aiser Ch hiefs ne o pllay th he Ju uly Co ourse on n sccheduled to Friday, August 2. Th he Le eeds in ndie he eroes’ Fe ebruary ambridge Co orn Exxchange giig allready Ca ell-out – so o iff yo ou miissed iss allready a se ut on n tiickets fo or th hat, he ere’s a ch hance ou to o se ee th he ba and ass pa art off a su ummer hat allso in ncludes scchedule th ppearances att th he Lo ollapalooza ap Fe estivals in n Brrazil an nd Ch hile. Tiickets arre no ow on n sa ale an nd a liimited 5 pe er ce ent diiscount iss offfer off a 15 or ad dvance ad dult tiickets avvailable fo purchased online at www.newmarketracecourses.co.uk. G AS another X Factor winner is crowned, a former champion has announced he’s heading back to Cambridge. Following a sold-out 23 date tour with his band earlier this year, 2010 winner Matt Cardle will hit the road in 2013 for an ‘unplugged’ tour of smaller venues – including The Junction on Wednesday, May 1. Cardle will be performing acoustic versions of songs from his two top 10 albums, 2011’s platinum-selling debut Letters, and this year’s sophomore set, The Fire. Tickets, priced £22.50, are on sale now from (01223 511 511 / www.thejunction.co.uk G BLONDIE and The Script have both an nnounced liive sh hows att Th hetford Forest next summer. ebbie Ha arry’s ne ew wa ave iccons wiill De he fo orest’s Hiigh Lo odge ve enue on n pllay th aturday, Ju une 15 5, wh hile th he Da anny Sa O’’Donoghue-fronted Du ubliners wiill eturn to o th he ve enue on n Th hursday, Ju uly re 1, fo ollowing a so old-out giig th here in n 11 2011. “W We lo oved ou ur Th hetford fo orest de ebut in n 2011,” Danny tells What’s On, “and an’t wa ait to o ge et ba ack on n th hat sttage ca ag gain. Ho ope to o se ee yo ou th here.” Tiickets fo or bo oth sh hows (£ £36 Bllondie, 32 Th he Sccript, pllus bo ooking fe ee) go o on n £3 ale att 9a am on n Frriday (D December 7)) sa he Fo orestry Co ommission bo ox frrom th offfice. Ca all 03 3000 68 80400 orr bu uy on nline at www.forestry.gov.uk/music G BRYAN Ferry has announced a Cambridge date as part of his first UK tour for five years. The sharp-suited Roxy Music legend will play the Corn Exchange on Thursday, October 31 next year. The tour will feature both Ferry’s usual band as well as The Bryan Ferry Orchestra, with whom he has just released the instrumental album The Jazz Age. The glam rock icon-turned-crooner will be performing an eclectic selection of songs chosen from across his whole career to celebrate his 40 years as a singer and songwriter. Tickets are on sale from today (Friday, November 30) from (01223) 357 851 or online at www.cornex.co.uk
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Comedy
Cambridge
Improv Factory A
SUITCASE of hamsters writhes on the floor while a couple with confused West Country accents and a badly thought out three-step plan for saving the world confront a spiritualist and the queen of New Zealand, who is dancing around gleefully at the thought of possessing humanity after becoming one with her guard snake. Oh, and did I mention the hamsters are being led by a renegade man from inside a snow globe who thinks he’s a pirate? It’s not always this surreal, but then, anything can happen at one of the Cambridge Improv Factory’s shows. Otherwise known as the ‘home of improvised comedy in Cambridge’, Cambridge Improv Factory (CIF) run fortnightly shows in the basement of CB2, putting on completely unscripted performances for audiences that get to directly shape the evening’s storyline. Made up of founder members Kevin Wright, Heather Yeadon, Vaughan Allanson, and newer additions Clare Kerrison, Vorno Hancock and Alex Wilbur, the group have been whirring along together since 2008 in various forms, but have only recently been getting fully into their wig-wearing, prop-toting stride. Starting out self taught, the group decided to take improv more seriously after trying a few classes and getting tips from Clare who runs improv courses through Cambridge based script writing group WriteOn. They swatted up on their improv history – their kind of improv kicked off in Calgary and Toronto in the 1960s – and by 2010, says Kevin, “had some skills and people seemed to like what we did.” CIF was born. I got to experience one of their Underground Improv three-act plays, and I’ll admit, I was sceptical at first. The thought of a play cobbled together and hung entirely on a few suggestions from the audience: surely it would just descend into chaotic giggling and not much else? Well, there was definitely some
It’s surprising what you can do with a pet shop, a spiritualist and a snow globe. ELLA WALKER discovers the hilariously surreal world of unscripted theatre. . .
giggling but fortunately for all the wigs) and just their imaginations right reasons. and reactions to rely on was truly impressive. After hyping the audience up Aside from the three act play, CIF Kevin, Heather, Vaughan, Clare and do several types of show including Vorno trooped on stage and genre plays (taking a random theme requested that we come up with a chosen by the audience and running location, an occupation and an with it), game shows (miniobject you’d find in a gift shop. improvised sketches a bit like After some haggling and a few Whose Line is it Anyway?) vetoed suggestions, the players and The Director’s Cut plumped for a pet shop, a where the players spiritualist and a snow globe. The Cambr compete to direct the Jumping to the sides of the Improv Fa idge ct or y’s best improvised stage (the players are Christmas sh ow is scene with the today. Find on always visible and dip in out more w w audience voting for w and out of the scene as at .cambr and follow idgeimprov.com the winner at the they come up with ideas th em on Twitter @Cambr end. or need to rescue a fellow details ab idgeImprov. For It all sounds like player from a dead end out Clare’s impr classes (s plot line), the first act tarting in ov a lot of hard work, Januar and they have more opened with Vaughan www.write y) visit planned says Kevin: scanning hamsters in the on.org.uk/ co urses/impr “There is so much you imaginary pet shop and, as ov. html can do with improv, the hour went on, things got we’ve only scratched the more and more bizarre . . . surface of ideas so far.” They hopped between the world During the show I saw there was of the pet shop, the office of the definitely no dearth of ideas, but spiritualist (Kevin had Vorno during their debrief the group admit perched on top of a chair as he to being annoyed they’d missed out worked through his childhood a potential scene (the pirate from traumas) and the miniature world of the snow dome, leading the the snow globe (cue all five players hamsters to victory from inside the huddled together and cooing at the suitcase). “There are always all the ‘hand’ like the aliens in Toy Story things you could have done,” Clare worshipping “The Claw”). says wistfully. It was magnificent really, and so This is the nature of improv: much fun. With each act the things happen in the moment, there storylines became more and more are no revisions and no chances to entwined, coming to a satisfying start over and get it exactly perfect. conclusion, but the risks involved However, there is still a lot of with so few confusion over what improv is and props (a is not. Clare describes it as suitcase, a ‘disposable theatre’ and scarf, a few explains it is entirely comedy unscripted, unlike quiz shows on TV that simply pretend to be unscripted (looking at you, Jimmy Carr). “The beauty of improv is that you never see the same show twice,” she buzzes, with Heather adding: “It’s there and then it’s gone.” REACTIONARIES: The Cambridge Improv Factory players
Another misconception – one that had me dragging my feet at the thought of attending the show – was the fear of being made to stand up and join in. But you’re more likely to get terrorised by a comedian at a scripted stand up gig than in the friendlier world of improv. “People worry that they might get picked on but that is not the case at all,” Kevin promises. “We won’t single people out – we’re the ones up there messing around making strange characters.” Which begs the question, isn’t it terrifying going up on stage, in front of a roomful of people without a script, or even a plan? “It is quite scary,” Kevin admits. “You have to be on your game but we practise how to develop characters and how to weave storylines.” Although, “we hardly ever do what we practise” Clare reveals, laughing. On stage what it comes down to is chemistry and maintaining a good flow. “Sometimes it’s easy but sometimes it is like ‘how are we going to put that together?” says Vaughan, with Kevin adding: “There are moments when you see the fear in each others’ eyes.” But the group work fantastically as a team, working through any moments of panicked quiet with a quick scene change or by niftily flicking the lights off. Largely though, these moments just add to the irreverent, free-falling style of the show. Whatever happens in the moment, they are clearly all addicted to the buzz of improv. “It’s the most brilliant, liberating, exciting thing I’ve ever done in my life,” Vorno enthuses, describing it as “crazy surreal madness” that is “good for your brain”. Kevin agrees: “I’ve never tried super crack, if it even exists, but I think it’s what super crack must feel like.” “It’s scary and exciting and you get to be different people every week, you can be anyone you want to be,” adds Heather and: “It’s much better than having a script,” says Vaughan. And if they fail to keep us wholly entertained? “We sometimes have forfeits if it hasn’t been amazing, so you can watch us suffer on stage if we haven’t done a good job. “We just want to make you laugh and put a smile on your face.”