Instant Kiwis is the new improvisational theatre night from ConArtists, at the Q Loft on Queen Street, every Friday night* until Christmas, with a different theme each week. 

They opened last night with Improv Survivor: stranded in the Q Loft with nothing but their wit and talent as survival tools, two teams of four actors battle it out. The audience votes for the best team at the end of each round, the losing team has to eliminate one of its members by anonymous pipe-cleaner vote. I vote for a return of Improv Survivor – there’s that much more at stake, keeping everyone on their toes, and if someone lags behind – off with their head!

The teams get to choose which theatresports ‘games’ they play in each round, such as puppets, a-word-at-a-time, genre rollercoaster, emotional poetry, with host Penny Ashton throwing in extra stumbling blocks such as ‘freeze’ (where another team member has to step in and take another’s place and change the direction of the story), time change (she has them jumping backwards and forwards in time within the storyline), and another where the actor has to ‘rewrite’ his or her last line, to name a few. And of course, the audience get to throw in suggestions that shape the action.  

Host Penny Ashton is the perfect tribal council arbiter, her boundless sass and brutal-but-fair umpirage remind me of a cross between a lion tamer and an 18^th century brothel madam.   

I find improv can go either way, sometimes sliding into tired cliché if the players are not on form. It’s a risky business for audience and performers alike. This is my first experience of a ConArtists production and I wasn’t disappointed, in fact, I think I might be hooked.

Not that there weren’t moments when the narrative failed to fly, but in general the energetic performers knew to when to nip an idea in the bud and move on, which I think is the key to good improv. 

This first instalment of Instant Kiwis starred Jeremy Elwood, who was a highlight of the evening and came close to being Sole Survivor, displaying lightning-fast reflexes and inventive wit. The other (unfamiliar to me but equally talented) actors were also of a high calibre and worked hard to prove their mettle (including some excellent singing voices) in this cut-throat fight for survival. 

There’s a nice bar downstairs to get you warmed up before the show in the new, nicely laid-out Q Loft. If you are a fan of improv, be sure to catch Instant Kiwis in this ongoing season. 

Next up from Instant Kiwis is Austen Found: Zombie Time (the undiscovered musicals of Jane Austen… with zombies) on October 21^st; followed in the coming weeks by various themes including: ‘Sex, Lies and Improvise’, ‘Director’s Cut’ and the musical medical soap opera ‘Instant Anatomy’.

*Times vary, check Q theatre or conartists.co.nz for details.  

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