Theatre Sports
Improd Theatre
The Big Ticket

Reviewed by Murray Bramwell

Theatre Sports, trademark registered by Keith Johnstone and the Loose Moose company, is Canada’s best-running export since maple syrup. A zappy combination of charades, It’s a Knockout and thespian wrestling, Theatre Sports began fourteen years ago and, especially in the past five years , has invaded the known world.

Their appeal is not hard to fathom. They have brought a refreshing unpredictability to the theatre. The frenzied, often ludicrous improvisations which you get with Theatre Sports at their best are fun to watch and exhilirating to perform. Governed by a careful code of commandments- no dirty tricks, no dirty talk and stick to the point if you can- Theatre Sports make for good clean colosseum. Presided over by charismatic MCs they are collective rituals of nerdy fun. Fuelled by minties hurled by the fistful at pre-ordained moments in the liturgy, Theatre Sports congregations have been known to go barking bonkers in support of their favourite team, or even just for another mintie.

Theatre Sports enjoyed their heyday in Adelaide when Geoffrey Rush and Deborah Kennedy launched them in the Union Hall in 1986. Those halcyon days drew baying rallies to the finals which filled Her Majesty’s Theatre to the very gills. Elsewhere, in Sydney, Paul Chubb and his Hanging Judge ruled Belvoir Street with a vengeance and young unknowns like Andrew Denton gained notoriety and prodigious fame for virtuoso renderings of Gibberish Endowments, Death in a Minute and Expert Double Figures. Not even an excruciating television series on the ABC managed to reduce the craze for Theatre Sports when it was in full cry.

Now, on Monday nights till June I, Theatre Sports has returned to Adelaide. Improd Theatre, the enterprising DIY company specialising in TIE productions, has taken over the franchise with a first round at the Big Ticket on Easter Sunday. Pelting the audience with chocolate eggs kindly sponsored by Adelaide Automotive Dismantlers, MC Michael Hill, timekeeper Jamie Nicolai and referee Jo Coventry opened the satin curtain on the night’s entertainment. The faithful, though less than multitudinous, were nonetheless ardent and the teams, hyped by their afternoon workshops, spun onto the stage like the proverbial coiled springs as last year’s sensation, Tequila on Tap returned to do battle with newcomers Escape Goats, Flourescent Potatoes (sic) and Beats Me.

Off they went – slow motion commentary, statues, word at a time, space jump, time warp, shared story – teams leaping into the masonic rituals familiar to the TS cogniscenti. MC Hill in basic black, looking like the young Morrissey, maintained a genial pace while Tasman Daishfd played fanfares and raspberries on the Roland. The Escape Goats left at the half and as did the not so bright Potatoes but not before each had had a warm bath of applause and a moment of fame. Besides, you can’t really fuck up. As Founder Keith, the L. Ron Hubbard of Theatre Sports, has decreed – It Just Doesn’t Matter. By the end of Round Four it was Beats Me who won the free nosh at the Crown and Anchor and then played an exhibition round against 1991 Grand Final winners, AhZZZ.

The heats continue each week at the Big Ticket and Improd run classes for Theatre Sports hopefuls on Sunday afternoons from two to four- ring them on 231 2131 if you want have a go. While not the hula hoop they once were, Theatre Sports can probably expect to find a new audience every six months. They might seem like old hat if you saw them back in the eighties, but the chances are your kids are having a great time re-inventing this particular wheel- especially since Improd have done so well getting it rolling.

The Adelaide Review, May 1992, p.41.