In case you haven’t heard this week - the city has been hosting the annual Nottingham Comedy Festival at multiple venues around the city. Beverley Makin went down to the Malt Cross basement with a very tightly packed room of fellow Star Wars nerds for MissImps Improvised Star Wars Show.
I’d not heard of MissImp before, but they are a Nottingham based improvised comedy company that has been active in Nottingham since 1998. They perform regularly around Nottingham and the East Midlands and offer improvisation courses and workshops.
MissImp are a large collective with no fixed cast, so this evening we were treated to Marilyn Bird, Nick Tyler, Phil Cruthers, Sam Marshall and Mitchell Masterson. We then got a brief introduction to let us know how the following hour will proceed and then a test to see if the assembled audience are indeed true Star Wars fans (no judgement if you were a fan of the original, prequel or sequels but we all know which are best!). It was at this point I heard the best ever Chewbacca impression from a member of the audience. Next the cast needed some more audience input with a premise for the story and a planet to be based on. We came up with ‘Jabbas Twin and the Faulty Light Saber’ and Planet Aldi. The audience were also asked to name some professions that must exist in the Star Wars universe but that we don’t see: CCTV operators…
All five know their Star Wars with clever jokes and references to the smallest things including Peter Cushing's famed slippers.
A long time ago, in a Lidl carpark far far away, our two heroes manning their CCTV screens question their role in the rebellion. They are suddenly contacted by Mon Mothma who needs the aforementioned two to do a bit of shopping for her. She kindly allows them to call it a mission as they head off to Planet Aldi for a racket set (metric not imperial), a duct tape multi-pack and an inflatable kayak. Fine performances all round lead us through the confusing and surprisingly busy isles of Planet Aldi where we encounter the middle management of the Empire, wannabe Jedi, Hutts, rebels and bored shelf stackers.
Flowing almost seamlessly, the five cast move about the small stage area with ease and a genuine rapport. I was particularly impressed with the wit of Marilyn Bird. I can’t recall if our two heroes did complete their rebel shopping list and I don’t think we had any clues as to what the inflatable kayak was for but that’s where you sit on the bus home and let your own mind improvise more of the stage shenanigans.
MissImp, the improv theatre and comedy group meet weekly, on Thursdays at Malt Cross, 16 St James's St, Nottingham NG1 6FG. 7:30pm - 9.30pm, anyone welcome!
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