Big Cult: This Improv Writes Itself


I’ve seen a lot of improv this month.  I’m a big fan of all forms of improv.  No net.  Gotta get it done.  It’s badass. 

Tonight, it was a show called This Improv Writes Itself by Big Cult at Copious in Ballard.  There were only five Big Cult actors and most of the time, one of them was running the sound/light board.  So that left just four actors in front of the audience to play the scenes. 

In most comedy improv that I’ve seen, there are six, eight, ten actors.  So when the energy is lagging and the scene needs something to keep it going, an actor can run in from the wings and goose it up – or end it with the wave of a hand.  Big Cult apparently likes a challenge.  They toughed it out with just the four on stage and the one in the booth and no one to save them.

Also, in most comic improv, they give themselves a lot to work with. Usually they take multiple suggestions from the audience for each bit so they have several different inputs to draw from.  But Big Cult was content to work with one idea per scene.

They pulled it off.

Among the highlights was a scene with Bert and Ernie in the middle of breaking up because Ernie wasn’t getting what he needed.  And another one where some North Pole residents met Mrs. Claus at the local grocery store and became very interested after learning that she was still having her period.

It was fun to watch them discover things and then lean into them, like in another scene where two of the actors became narrators while the other two acted out the narration.  The narrators kept saying, “But that’s not what this story is about, it’s about …”  They did this like half a dozen times and it took on a life of its own for the audience and actors alike. 

That’s the fun of improv.  No one knows where it’s going.  We all get to find out.  I’ll be happy to find out what happens at the next Big Cult show.

Photo taken from Big Cult Facebook page and used without asking. I hope it's okay! 

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