A theatrical farce made up on the fly
Entrances and Exits: An Improvised Farce
(out of 4) Created by the Howland Company in association with Bad Dog Theatre. From March 5-13 at Streetcar Crowsnest, 345 Carlaw Ave. Torontosketchfest.com This 60-minute improv show won a best of the Toronto Fringe award in 2018 and is back for a double-header run at the Bad Dog Comedy Theatre and at Streetcar Crowsnest as part of the Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival.
The fun conceit is that five performers make up a theatrical farce on the spot based on audience suggestions. Taking inspiration from great English farces, such as Noises Off and
The Norman Conquests, the show’s two acts depict the same passage of time in two different parts of the same house. The challenge for the improvisers and pleasure for the audience is setting up in Act 1 (in the living room) what will pay off in Act 2 (in the bedroom), and it’s all about, as the title indicates, comings and goings.
Every performance will, of course, be unique, but there are some frameworks: The audience’s guide is performer and technical director Connor Low, who explains the rules of the game and solicits suggestions about the situation and three sound effects that will figure in the action.
At the performance I attend- ed, the show staged a goingaway party, and the improvisers needed to incorporate the sound effects of a pig squeal, a chainsaw and shattering glass. Low then sat next to the tiny Bad Dog stage, running the sound effects.
As Low pointed out in his banter, it’s a golden rule of improv that you always accept whatever another performer proposes (if your partner says a cushion is a hat, it’s a hat), and there was a surprisingly ropy Act 1 moment when an actor blocked another’s attempt at exposition, but everyone soon rallied.
The fact that we’re all in on the game, watching the performers process complicated information on the spot, is what makes the show (directed by Paolo Santalucia) enjoyable. Some of the funniest lines on the night I attended were delivered by cocreator Liz Johnston as a domineering grandmother/pig farm magnate, who managed to wink at the format while keeping the story moving. “I feel good about this exposition,” she zinged, exiting after a particularly plotheavy encounter.
The show I viewed never quite reached the giddiness of suc- cessful door-slamming farce, but it nonetheless delivered consistent laughs and showed off the comic chops of its performers (Conor Bradbury, Nigel Downer, Dylan Evans, cocreator Ruth Goodwin, and Johnston).
Future performances feature guest appearances from Kim Convenience’s Andrew Phung, Canadian improv hero Colin Mochrie and Second City alum Linda Kash.
Karen Fricker is a Toronto-based theatre critic and a freelance contributor for the Star. Follow her on Twitter: @KarenFricker2