Improvisation as a useful life skill is a bit of a cliché, but I can’t help being reminded of it as I watch the opening showcase of the eleventh Improvisation Festival at BATS – fittingly home to the rest of the festival.  

My neighbour is a young woman bound for next year’s creative writing course at Victoria. She thinks she’ll get some helpful clues from a show like this. She’s brought her 14-year-old brother. He’ll definitely get some few clues from a show like this.

The show’s MC is Matt Powell, standing in, he tells us, for Festival Director Jennifer O’Sullivan. She’s giving birth right now evidently – how’s that for improvisation? 

After a welcome in te reo, we get to meet the eight improvisors, including a keyboarder. All Wellington based and members of various improvisation troupes. This is a showcase performance, and we’ll see the players featured later on in the week.

I’ve only recently encountered the thing about the thing. Here’s a Thing turns out to be an appropriate title, given the wide-ranging improvisational material that follows. “What’s a word to end a Zoom call on?” is a starting point for one. Another begins “I thought this was a restorative justice school.” There’s a bat called Bruce, a Gothic poetry item – slam style – and needless to say, Ashley gets a mention.

Of all the challenges offered by improvisation, bringing the skit to a satisfying conclusion must be the greatest. It’s a challenge met with varying degrees of success by our performers. That said, the audience easily recognises a punchline when they hear it and this evening’s performance evokes the laughter of recognition and appreciation.

“That’s all the things,” Matt tells us at the end. Luckily, the next four nights offer plenty more. 

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