Improv Musical returns to Warwick

Music Theatre Warwick’s (MTW) Improv Musical will be returning to the Warwick Arts Centre in the second week of term two.

Following on from three sold-out performances at the Warwick Student Arts Festival (WSAF), Music Theatre Warwick’s hugely successful ‘Improv Musical’ has been granted a slot in the coveted Warwick Arts Centre studio.

A scenario, as suggested and voted for by the live audience, is all the actors have to go on. Accompanied by an improvising pianist, they spend the next hour playing out said scenario through the mediums of musical theatre – acting, song and even sometimes dance.

The group was founded by PhD student and veteran Music Theatre Warwick member Rob Kelly back in 2012, after seeing professional musical improvisational companies at the Edinburgh Fringe. He said: “We have such incredible talent at this university, I just wanted to see that talent channelled into something new and exciting.”

Using WSAF 2012 as a springboard, Mr Kelly explained his reasoning for this decision as “in WSAF anything goes. It’s a time for experimentation, so it was the perfect opportunity for us.”

The show sold out – a rarity amongst WSAF productions.

The cast have spent weeks rehearsing their improvisational techniques, but Mr Kelly is adamant that “the cast have nothing prepared, but are very good at having nothing prepared.”

Their first performance at WSAF last year – ‘Embarrassing Bodies: The Musical’ – proved so successful that the cast were offered another slot later in the festival, reprising their talents to produce ‘Fat Camp: The Musical’.

So, why should audiences pay for a ticket to something entirely improvised? “It’s like a pantomime for all-seasons. When it’s good, it’s even better by the virtue of it being entirely unprepared.”

MTW’s Improv Musical 2014 is on at the Warwick Arts Centre on January 18.