The Post-Haste Players‘ ROMEO AND JULIET IMPROVISED is  not Shakespeare as you know it. It may not even be Shakespeare ‘as you like it’, but the capacity audience at the Factory Theatre on Wednesday night 16 May certainly did like it.

Part of the Annual Sydney Comedy Festival, held at various venues around the metropolitan area, this Company has built up a huge following of ‘improv’ devotees. The company was established in 2011 by Michael Gregory and Oliver Burton, who share directing
credits, and who now act with the permanent cast, comprising Marco Mustac, Linette Voller, Lisa Ricketts and Bryce Halliday, who also provided appropriate musical accompaniment throughout the  play. Featured also was veteran ‘improv’ performer Ian Campbell. Those of you who ever attended a live Mike Walsh Midday Show will remember him for his role in “warming up” the audience to get them in the mood for the show.

For those who may be unfamiliar with this type of theatre, the action of the play is improvised by the actors, and the audience is asked to call out cues which the actors then “run with”, delighting the
audience as they go. Even the players have no idea how the play will end. “How so”? I hear you ask. Well, because it’s “improvised.”

Michael Gregory acts as Narrator, and sets up the scenes, links them, and fills in parts of the story that we don’t see played out.
“What’s in a name?” the poet said. Or rather, “What’s in a noun?” And that’s an integral part of the show. Members of the audience are invited to submit a noun prior to the show which the players then use in the play’s iconic balcony scene. That was one of the many ways the audience were brought in to be part of the show. And they loved it. The results on this night were hilarious.

The duration of the show is just over an hour, but it only seemed like half that time. We could have done with another hour. The night may have been short, but it was most definitely sweet.   It was a memorable evening and, to my mind, one of the highlights of the Festival. Without a doubt, ‘improv’ comedy at its best.

I wonder what the Bard himself would have thought of the ending if he had been sitting in the audience. “A consummation devoutly to be wished,” perhaps?

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