GOOD NEWS APLENTY AS KILL HARD IS BACK
Action film spoof at Loose Moose for two shows
It’s a good thing Jamie Northan is used to flying by the seat of his pants, because that’s what he’s been doing this past week.
Last July, Northan and Andrew Phung created Kill Hard, an improv show that paid loving homage to the world of cheesy action flicks.
It was an instant hit at the Calgary and Edmonton fringe festivals, so the duo revived it this past March and, once again, it played to sold-out houses at the Loose Moose Theatre.
Northan and Phung decided to bring Kill Hard back to the Edmonton fringe this summer, with a short preview run in Calgary July 29 and 30.
This is where Northan’s run of good news-versus-bad news began.
“During our run of Kill Hard at the Edmonton fringe, one of the producers of CBC’s planned television version of the hit Canadian play Kim’s Convenience caught Kill Hard,” Northan says.
“He stayed after the show and told Andrew to get hold of him for an audition for the show. The good news is that Andrew got cast in the series.
The bad news was that Andrew would not be available for the summer revival of Kill Hard.”
The good news is that Phung agreed with Northan that the only person who could possibly step into Phung’s shoes is Quinn Contini, a young Calgary actor studying theatre in Edmonton who is a former improv student of Northan and Phung.
“Quinn is younger, more fit and better-looking, so Andrew and I were excited that he’d be upping my game this time around — and that’s what every improviser wants.”
Northan always knew Phung’s heart was still with Kill Hard, but CBC had a bit of a stranglehold on his time. “Andrew called to say he was making a series of video clips that neither Quinn nor I would be allowed to see until they were played for us live during a performance.
“We didn’t even know what characters Andrew would be playing in them, but we knew they were his way of messing with us — and that was some great news.”
The new Calgary revival of Kill Hard was going to feature NienZu Chang, a special guest improviser from Taiwan.
“I was paired with Nien-Zu during Kieth Johnstone’s summer improv intensive and we really clicked,” explains Northan.
“I also saw how much audiences love Nien-Zu, so I asked him to stay and play various characters for us — and the good news is, he was just as excited at the prospect as I was.”
It all seemed as if there could be no better news, until Phung phoned to say CBC was giving the cast of Kim’s Convenience a short hiatus that just happened to coincide with the Calgary Kill Hard performances. Northan now has an embarrassment of riches.
Phung, who has a rabid fan base in Calgary, is back.
Contini is all prepped and raring to go, as is Chang. Oh yes, one more bit of good news: Mayor Naheed Nenshi, who is a huge fan of Kill Hard and Northan’s The North East Show, is planning to attend the July 30 performance — which, as Northan explains, means “we have to give Nenshi a cameo in the show. It simply goes without saying.
“The audience would never forgive us if we didn’t.”
Kill Hard is always billed as a twoperson, multi-character comedy, but Northan explains that’s hardly true.
“Jesse Lynn Anderson is our sound designer and that really amounts to being another character as do Bre Kennedy’s special sound effects. These two women are real tricksters.
“Andrew or I may have a gun in our hand only to have a sound effect gun shot interrupt and we have to quickly explain that one or then there’s the chance we’ll suddenly have the sound of a helicopter hovering about us. “We’re totally at their mercy.” In addition to Chang and Contini, Northan has added Ellis Lalonde to the bill for the Calgary run.
He’s a guitar player who’ll be supplying live mood music.
“Ellis did all the songs and sound for Legend Has It and he does the same for the youth version of Dirty Laundry.”