Flopsweat, October 9, 2012 MPROV Preview

The Festival of Scriptlessness
by Kyle Allatt

Well, it’s happening again.  Get ready to shout out non-geographical locations and debate whether or not any of this crap was written ahead of time because this week MPROV: The 7th Annual Montreal Improv Festivals returns to... er... well, Montreal, I suppose.

Where has it been all this time?  I’ll hazard a guess and say the ether.  That mystical, intangible place where all improv ideas come from.  That’s right, none of these performers are actually thinking any of these things off the top of their heads, they’re all just witches.  Thankfully, we’ve called an amnesty on burning them for the time being, and instead will just sit in the audience and laugh at their antics.  For now.

So which of these comedy conjurers will be gracing the stage this week?  Well, I’m glad I asked.  From New York City there’s The Curfew, who may or may not be doing a late show, depending on how ironic their name is.  All the way from Austin, Texas is Get Up, once understatedly described by the Austin Chronicle as “good”.  From Vancouver is Dave Morris, a solo improviser who has performed in Seattle, Chicago and even Berlin.  In German?  I have no idea.

Are there any local performers playing at this festival, you may ask?  My God, you ask a lot of questions.  Use the comments section for Pete’s sake.  Yes.  Happy now?  Yes, appearing from Montreal are the ubiquitous Uncalled For, the prolific On The Spot Improv, the musical Way the Hell off Broadway, the dangerous Easy Action, the equally dangerous Improv Ronin, the uh.. let’s say adventurous Adventure Space, the adjective-less The Brat, and the long-absent The Bitter End.

Come for the laughs, stay for the fun and please, don’t burn any of the performers.

MPROV: The 7th Annual Montreal Improv Festival plays Oct 10-13 at the Montreal Improv Theatre, 3717 St. Laurent and Oct 14 at Le Nouveau Ste-Catherine, 264 Ste-Catherine Ouest