I
have been remiss, dear faceless reader. I have been remiss in my duties
as a chronicler of all I survey and a commentator in all I watch as
well as a rant-machine on all I absorb. And for that, my Dear Faceless
Reader, I must apologize.
Who
are the Mirth-O-Matics? That’s a little easy and a little hard to
explain- because I could tell you that they’re an improve comedy group
and leave it at that. But if you don’t know what “Improv Comedy” is you
may just scratch your head in confusion and try to smile in feigned
understanding. So let me try to school you, faceless reader: Have you
ever watched an episode of “Whose Line is it?” with Drew Carey (or the
original British Show of the same name)? It’s an improvisational comedy
show where the cast go through comedic acting exercises with some help
from the audience including suggestions and a little participation. The
object of each exercise or “game” is to put the actors on the spot and
provide entertainment for the audience.
And
that’s what the Mirth-o-matics do. They entertained this viewer for a
solid two hours or so with a number of games that saw the actors
scrambling to fill a variety of roles, shoe-horn dialogue chosen by the
audience, alphabetized stories, and bringing a sense of order to the
mayhem of largely unrehearsed suggestions from an unpredictable
audience. The Troupes director led many of the games and also
participated in a number of the games himself while constantly engaging
with, and informing, the audience.
The
Mirth-O-Matics perform throughout Monterey County and are likely to
return to Paper Wing Theatre before too long, so I highly recommend
checking out the show and watching these folk perform. It’s a treat and
definitely something different.
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