Our most recent show was the second of our new Saturday slots at the Komedia.  No more beating ourselves up about not attracting an audience, we were sold out by Tuesday!  It was heart-warming to feel the tingling excitement as the Studio Bar filled.  Snack food was available for the first time, and to the staff's credit, it did not disturb proceedings at all.
So, what better time to try out a totally new song format?  Sat in my privileged position at the keyboard, I was able to scan the faces of the audience as we rolled out this song...

Suffice to say, there were some bemused expressions, but also some outright belly laughs.  If there was ever an exercise in commitment on stage, then this was it.  It may not have been the funniest, cleverest or most delicately crafted song, but it had guts, and I challenge anyone to find another improv company doing the same thing. 

There were some wonderful scenes in the show that were derived from the often hilarious articles from the Argus.  It is not always a gift to have an article that makes the audience laugh in itself, but in this case, George and Jason nailed it.  Check out the "swarm edit" at the end...

I get the feeling sometimes that the audience choose obscure articles to test The Maydays.  Quite right too, what would an improvised show be without some challenging subject matter?  However, when Rebecca was reading this article, I was stumped as to how things were going to proceed.  Thank God for Heather and her baps...

All in all, the night felt like another classic example of a show being created by the audience.  What I mean is that a good, healthy full audience feeds energy onto the stage, which in turn feeds back into the audience.  A beautiful closed loop which demonstrates that what you put in to life, you get out of it.  We all put it warmth, energy and commitment, audience included, and we all reaped the rewards.

One thing that I hope improv has brought to my life in the wider sense is the abilty to be open to anything so when John suggested that the Maydays spend the day with a spiritual Guru called Prasadam who he described as a cross between the Dalai Lama and Spike Milligan I knew I couldn't pass it up.  

The day began with Prasadam informing us that we were going to create a play, with John playing the "beautiful princess." We then spent an hour and a half with Joe's music accompanying us creating a totally surreal adventure through forest and castles, with Zen masters and African dance healers. In short, it was mental.  

I would be seriously surprised if we what we came up with was of any kind of performance standard, however it did make me notice something: In our normal Maydays rehearsals, (despite what we always say to our students about not being able to do it wrong!) we ourselves are constantly striving to get things right. While it's important to work on different skills within the practice of improvisation; when we're not on stage I wonder how much time as a troupe we actually spend just "playing" and not analysing what we are doing. Creating a free running structure with no emphasis on what we were creating had a totally different joyful quality and it doesn't seem like a coincidence that our show on the following night had the same feeling (see Joe's previous blog.)  

I won't here go into what the rest of the Prasadam adventure entailed but I will say that for me personally it gave me the chance to remember the simplest rule of improv, to embrace it's mindfulness and bally well have fun!

Last night’s Maydays show at the Komedia was a fine example of how an audience can make a show take off.  The studio bar was bulging not only with people, but with a warm excitement, a radiant benevolence for the show they were about to witness.  30 paying customers were turned away at the door and it was standing room only for those lucky enough to get in at the last minute.

With the help of Adam Kidd’s booming voice over, and my typically over the top musical entrance music, The Maydays arrived on stage in a storm of almost American style applause and whooping.  I am very happy to say that the show lived up to its reception as the Maydays took articles from The Argus (Brighton’s local newspaper) and transformed them into  magical, comical and downright surreal scenes (I still don’t know what an “ash-pumper” is!).

The second half flew past in a flurry of articles, quick-fire gags and longer, 5-person scenes (examples of both on the videos).  The descent into crudity as we reached the climax of the show was fortunately approved by the audience and we ended on the line, “So you found the cream then?”.  If you were not there...use your imagination!

It was gratifying to live up to the Saturday night slot we have managed to fill at the Komedia Studio Bar, and I am sure that this contributed to the large amount of people that were coming to see us for the first time.  It really does feel like the wave of improvisation is building, and that I for one feel very excited and privileged to be paddling on my surfboard ready to catch it.

Posted by Joe Samuel

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 It is healthy to be reminded why we do what we do sometimes. Last night was a prime example of this. The quiet village of Poynings nestles snugly behind the South Downs, safely shielded from the brashness of Brighton, guarding the lower entrance to Devil’s Dyke. The Maydays were playing in the Village Church as part of their fundraising efforts for some new heating. The need for this was all too apparent as I sat and watched Rebecca shivering with her entire body as she waiting on the wings. We were performing our new show, “All about you” which takes anecdotes from the audience and turns them into sketches and songs. It is a lovely format in an intimate community like Poynings as most people know each other, so te anecdotes are meaningful to all. However, nobody was expecting the acrimonious break-up of a teanage couple to dominate the evening, with anecdotes from both parties!
The atmosphere was far warmer than the temperature, and we soon warmed to our task, the homemade mulled wine and mince pies keeping the audience alive. Highlights were surely the death of a clown, foxes against humans and the expensive crisp blues. On a personal level, the chance to play the church organ for our final Gospel number was a unique experience for me. Admittedly, the song itself still needs a bit of work, but as for new experiences, that one is hard to beat.
After the show we were approached by so many members of the village whose friendliness and genuine curiosity in improvisation was heartening and heartfelt. We found ourselves in the local pub soon afterwards and continued to be chatted to and welcomed into what felt like a close-knit and vibrant community.
THe discussion amongst the Maydays turned to the value of doing gigs in communities. It does say something that we had a bigger, more appreciative audience than at some of our Komedia shows in Brighton. Also, we all left feeling that we had not only entertained the village, but had contributed to their much needed cause also. Thank you to the wonderful people of Poynings!

This week saw the start of two Maydays courses, the first of 2011. Last night I was lucky enough to be teaching the first session of our longform course and what a great group they are. I’ve worked with everyone before with the exception of Jo, but having seen her shortform showcase last year felt like I already knew her and was a bit starstruck. We also have three musical improv veterans on the course.

Having taught a fair bit of longform now, I always feel the need to explain to groups right form the start how challenging the leap from short to longform can be. Without set structures there isn’t the feeling of a safety net the way there is in a pre-ordained game like those made famous by “Whose Line…?” On the flip-side though, Longform brings with it great freedom, and a chance to find your own artistic expression,  “singing your own song” as UB40 would say.

Having been thinking about musical improv quite a lot recently, it’s interesting to start thinking about scenes and collections of scenes as having rhythm much like a piece of music. We talked a lot last night about group responsibility. I was suggesting that perhaps in a longform piece the place with the least responsibility is in the scene, since all you can do really in be in it and keep committing to where you are and what you are doing. On the side-lines however, you are responsible for everything; colouring the scene, tag-outs, walk ons, walk ins and most importantly Editing.

I’m a big believer in serendipity and following an email I got this morning, was led to the website of Oslo based troupe Crumbs. Here’s what they had to say on Editing:

”When is a scene over? When does a scene start? How do I get out of a scene that is over? How do I change what is happening in a scene when I don't like it? How do I affectively use editing to tell the story? What does the editing tell me about the story? How do we tap into the natural rhythm of the scene to realize when we should be making our transitions and what transitions best fit the moment?”

They suggested that good editing is about “feeling the moment and creating opportunities to create new ways to transition. Timing isn't something you are taught, it is something you feel.”

I very much like this last sentence. So I will not be teaching timing for the next few weeks but feeling it. I was desperately hoping to find the clip from dirty dancing where he says “the steps aren’t enough, you have to feel the music,” to illustrate this point, alas I could not. Found this instead; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0lOwj88TrQ

Ah, the joys of youtube.

This blog was brought to you by Heather

Happy Xmas everyone (yes i know it's a bit late but us Maydays always celebrate with a trip to Poynings in the new year). Today we've been treated to an amazing meal by Tom and John, penguin impressions from Isaac, a lovely walk round Devil's Dyke, and the company of ALL THE MAYDAYS and their lovely partners and children.

Yes it was muddy, but it was a glorious day for walking and as usual we pitted our wits against each other at the annual John Cremer book giveaway (prizes for guessing the name of original songs that have been turned into reggae numbers). We rounded off the day by sharing our highlights and lowlights from 2010 and listened to some classic Ivor Cutler.

It's all steam ahead now until May, with regular Saturdays at the Komedia, regular Tuesdays with Hoopla at the Miller, Poynings Village fair show and a spot for us girlies at the Komedia Funny Women show in Feb. 

Happy New Year everyone!

Happy New Year everyone - here we are in 2011 and as usual I'm wondering what the hell happened to 2010, but I suppose time flies when you're busy and we were definitely busy. TWO new Maydays - Liz Peters and Steve Roe - both of whom have fit like Cinderella's dirty (and perfectly-formed) feet into the crystal slipper that is the Maydays. Hmm, that sounded better in my head.

Anyway, on top of that we had a quite blindingly brilliant Edinburgh (where we met loads of very cool, talented and funny people as well as running the first ever Edinburgh Improsium). We performed at Komedia, Sanctuary Cella (RIP - sniff!), The Miller, The Marlborough, Sussex Eco Awards, Oakham, The King's Head Islington, Osho Leela, Pavilion (with Funny Women), Brighton Improv Temple AND the Slapdash Festival in the Old Vic Tunnels. This is without even mentioning our many successful corporate gigs.

Looking forward, we are pleased and privileged to be performing at our first Maydays love-match wedding - yes the very lovely Katy and Matt from Existential Pants met during a Beginners Improv class and will be subject to yet more improvised ballads before their special day is out. (REMEMBER: forget speed-dating - just come to our classes!).

In other news we are pleased to announce that we will be moving to SATURDAYS at the Komedia from February 2011. We are also working on a new show for the May Festival and forming close links with London-based Hoopla Impro. We are running 3 courses from Spring 2011, as well as an improv surgery on the 16th Jan and soon to be announced Music weekend. There's also talk of an even longer and more intense Improv Residential in the Autumn so keep your eyes peeled for that.

2011 is looking very promising already and we're not into double figures yet, hope to see you at some point, watching, learning or playing with The Maydays. Happy New Year!
JR