Second Album Syndrome
Solo improv and making a show from scratch again.
I went to Mach Fest earlier this month to do a work in progress show, AKA my difficult second album. Technically it’s my difficult *umpteenth album but I was pretty happy with my last show, so doing something from scratch has second album vibes. Mach Fest is a beloved comedy festival in Machynlleth, Wales, known for its discerning audiences, friendly volunteers and lack of industry nonsense. It’s also a place where I suffer from mild impostor syndrome. It is a very cool festival and I’m not sure if I truly belong there. I came up on my own which probably didn’t help and to be honest while I was there I felt a bit rudderless. Festivals can have that effect I’ve noticed, if you don’t have your posse around you.
* Here’s a video of the guy who invented the word umpteenth. Enjoy!
Anyway, I saw some shows, briefly hung with nice people, ate some incredible chicken paella and the next day I did my show. It was at 12 midday in The Swallow Theatre. The conditions were great (a small room, sold out crowd, nice volunteers ), but it didn’t quite fly in the way I wanted it to, and I found it hard not to beat myself up about that afterwards. I hate the idea of an audience not having an amazing time, or feeling short changed in some way. I find doing work in progress stuff a bit soul destroying. It would be helpful to be deluded or thick skinned but unfortunately I’m neither so the critical voice in my head is extremely observant and very loud. It simply feels wrong trying things out in a show that don’t quite work. I realise that sounds odd because in a sense I encourage people to fail when I’m teaching improv, but in another sense you can’t really fail in improv because mistakes are a gift, and the stakes in an improv class are very low. In an hour long solo show that people have paid for however, the stakes feel slightly higher. That being said, I tried new things, and I experimented, which is what I set out to do. As my friend Paul F Taylor said you have to do that or you won’t make anything interesting, and you won’t get better. Which is true. Paul is a very good comedian and makes interesting & very funny work, so I am taking comfort from his words.
I split my work in progress show into two halves. The first half featured written characters/bits and the second half was entirely improvised. Doing solo improv of this type was interesting and harder than I expected. There were certain characters that worked, I really enjoyed being an irascible poet for instance, but for the most part each character needed to be gamified. It quickly became apparent to me that I couldn’t do improvisation without a short-form game attached. I tried to, with one character, and it didn’t take off. The audience at Mach genuinely do know best, so I swiftly pivoted! After all, a character comedy show in a comedy festival is not the place for slow-burn, slice of life improvisation.
Also, and this is going to sound really obvious, what I hadn’t taken into account is, when you improvise on your own there is no one to bounce off. Audiences love seeing an improviser swiftly adapt to what another improviser has offered them, but when it’s just you, this is simply not possible. I mean, I tried! But it’s a tall order. In retrospect I should have played more than one character in a scene so that at least they could see me having to adapt to myself. That’s what I’d do in a purely improvised show, but this was not that, this was a character show. All in all it was a useful experiment but I think that I shall go back to smuggling improvised moments into my scripted character comedy instead. In the Soho Theatre version of my most recent show “Should I Still Be Doing This?” I snuck an improvised verse into a song at the end (drawing on things an audience member told me about themselves at the start of the show), which was satisfying. Not everyone noticed it (!) but those that did enjoyed it. Side note: that kind of improv, in which rhymes are essential, requires the technical improv part of my brain, as opposed to the instinctive improv part. Lately I’ve done some shows with The Noise Next Door and I am thankful to them and their approach for igniting this technical skill in my synapses!
Like an absolute fool I failed to film my work in progress show or record the audio or even get any photos (!) so I wrote some notes on the train back afterwards instead. I’m sharing them here in case it’s useful for your process, or just interesting for your brain.
WIP: “What About This?” post-show notes.
Harriet the theatre volunteer.
This was an old character that I reused. In my last show I was Harriet at the start. I loved being her and it was a useful way to warm up the crowd beforehand. I might always start my shows with her from now on? She worked well again I think, despite one audience member briefly thinking she was Rose West!
Jessie Buckley
I think there’s potential in this character. I need more jokes but she’s heading along the right lines and I can smuggle an improvised song into her bit. I didn’t do a brilliant job of the song in the Mach show, it was respectable but not amazing (there is zero thinking time in solo improv!!) but it will work better when I know the rest of the show more and therefore have more brain space for improvised moments.
The Character of Wordle
This works in principle! Especially for an alternative comedy crowd. Need to polish up the prop/costume side of it now and add some more script to the intro. I trialed it at Don’t Be Yourself Ralph Jones’s fun character comedy night, and the audience guessed the word quite quickly, but this time I managed to set it up so that it lasted longer and was more satisfying.
True crime podcast sketch
I took this from a video I made but it didn’t really work live, it was too static. Now I know that though, which is useful.
A running joke about Dog Dylan.
This did not have a pay off. The day before I thought “this does not have a pay off” but I didn’t have time to create a really good sound effect/pre-written song or to find an improv musician to do the show in order to pay it off. In retrospect I wish I’d engineered something, anything, (even something very rough) to conclude the bit. I kind of knew in my gut that it needed a button. So the lesson here is, trust your gut.
The Improv section
The gamefied/short-form stuff works but can be a slog on your own. Largely I’m glad I tried it, but probably won’t do it again like this. However, one character I improvised in this section (a poet) has the potential to be developed and scripted and then his poems can be smuggled improv. I’m really enjoying the idea of smuggling improv! Can you tell? I’m going to say it again, “smuggling improv”. Maybe that’s the title of my next show? “Susan Harrison smuggles improv”. That’s not bad actually.
Other notes
I think I swore too much and also there was a gross written suggestion from an audience member that I should have ignored because there was a young person in the room but my judgement was off so I read it out. I feel bad about that. It wasn’t anything horrific but normally I wouldn’t have read it with a young person in. What I learnt from this was that with solo short-form improv there’s no time to think or pause which means there’s the potential to make rushed, bad decisions. It’s easier to deal with these types of things elegantly when there’s more than one of you on stage. You can share the cognitive load.
Improv geekery
For clarity (and for the improv aficionados out there) when I talk about solo improv I’m not talking about beautiful, sensitive long-form solo shows in which people take their time developing scenes and don’t worry about laughs, and perform to an improv savvy audience. I’m also not talking about David Elm’s style of solo improvised performance in which he takes his time building an environment with his audiences. I’m talking about solo character improv, for a comedy audience. Different kettles of fish! I’d very much like to do the former too one day, but that will be a whole different show.
I hope this has been interesting in some way. I think most comedians find making new work hard, so if you’re at that stage in a project I’m sending you a long distance high five. Having spent a long time creating my previous show I know that it’s worth going through this sticky process. Just gotta keep on trucking and preferably remember to film your set. After all, how else are you going to find out if you really do look like Rose West?
NEWS
Showstopper! The Improvised Musical
May 18th at The Cambridge Theatre.
There is one (1) chance to see me in Olivier Award winning Showstopper! The Improvised Musical between now and August. See you there?
Pretending: What Is Improvisation?
One Size Productions (a production company I set up with Lucy Trodd) is releasing clips from out short mockumentary film Pretending: What is Improvisation. Watch some clips here We’re thrilled that so many people (70 thousand at the last count) are watching our work and enjoying it. We also got selected for the first Female Pilot Club Festival. Whoop!
Paul Merton and Suki Webster’s Improv Show
May 20th and 27th at The Comedy Store, London.
I’m guesting on two of these shows this month, with Jason Manford and Julian Clary. Can’t wait.
Fascinating to read this on your process Sue, thanks for sharing. If you don’t mind me saying, any seeds of doubt you’ve expressed here about any bits weren’t apparent in the room AT ALL. Wordle and the volunteer were so fun, and as ever your songs/poems immaculate!
I’ll also reflect that it can take a beat for an afternoon Mach audience to catch on that they’re in safe hands with improv, and won’t be picked on as a stand up might. We’re often doing a little bit of improv-evangelicalism there.
Anyway, a treat to see you perform again and hope you had fun, as we did!
I always enjoy reading your articles and this one was extra interesting about performing a show in progress. First, the bravery of doing an hour show that you're still working on is impressive. As you said, it's the only way to see what works. I love doing improv, but I can't imagine doing it without a scene partner in front of an audience. I loved the notes you gave yourself on what did and didn't work, and what you could work on. I don't see myself being on stage, but I love learning about the creative process. I'm loving the One Size Production Wednesday reels! They're so funny.