busker

Improv

Saturday showtime!

Off betimes to our excellent BPA, accompanied by #2 jewel.

What a remarkable troupe that is, under the steely direction of Sarn't Major Ballenger, who so reminded me of my own school's Officer Training Corps (OTC) Regimental Sergeant Major (RSM) that I sat to attention throughout lest he choose me for kit inspection and send me home for shoddy blanco on my webbing.

The Beat had mentioned he'd be there, so I primed Anna with samples of his postings and the two of us checked out the milling lobby for likeliest suspects.

I have - or had - a precise image of what Bainbridge Beat looks like. Now I have seven - eight if you include a rather handsome woman who also fitted the bill.

Wonderful evening! What a powerhouse of quick thinkers and what finely judged timing KB exercised, be it cueing in each actor or knowing precisely when each sketch had mined the vein.

Invidious to single anyone out but major props to deft ivories tinkler Andrew Shields and Matt Whitman is a hoot. (Note how I clear I stay from sexist comment on the major babe power of the enchantingly-named Bhama Roget).

• Mother's Day à la Kurt Weill - brilliant. These improv tight rope acts shred my nerves. In my time I've had to rustle up on-the-spot Cy Grant-style calypsos and I started off imagining myself on stage. To my relief, this bunch is so superior, I soon relaxed and lay back and thought of England. Speaking of which, what a clever lady that Sue MacPherson is, just cruising thru the guessing game of Gary Schwartz's hilarious gibberish clues of someone trapped atop volcano, swallowed Jonah-style by whale, plummeting into lava, pants catch fire, ends up voting for Tony Blair.
• As others see us: It's always fascinated me how each nationality sees others. For Sue to guess it was UK election, it took Gary a mere 2 seconds to tilt his nose and emit strangled garglings and SM had it, so I guess that's how we Brits are seen. I was about to call out "damn'd good impression" in my best David Niven accent but the bossette stopped me with a killer look.
  
• Speaking of Killer looks: We sat immediately behind an intensely irritating youth who thought himself clever enough to start the evening barking out ideas for every sketch.

  Sarn't Major Ballenger had his number and cut short his babblings, but Anna's dismissive incurious gaze on her contemporary was a picture in itself.

• As others see us #2: So convincing were the krautie guttural gurglings and teutonic gestures in the German sketch that Anna had to ask me if they were in fact speaking fluent German.
• Hilarious tobacco-chewing plant-growing number (with all-too convincing masticating and expectorations) including superb musical chorus by the multi-talented, rubber-expression'd Cynthia Lair and cutie Roget.
• The Coffin Maker: Spot-on parody of a Broadway number, complete with all the gestures and chorus work and wonderful number by Mattinée idol, Whitman.
• The granite-jawed Ballenger chose well from an eager audience, the only let-down being the handsome duo who had to provide sound effects. That needed actual theatrical know-how and the couple selected - albeit valiant and willing - were a little out of their depth. Anna and I agreed it should hae gone to our vociferous smart-aleck neighbor.