London, 1st September 2026

👋 Greetings, dear readers.

Summer dreams are fading away like hearts written in the sand, washed away by the tide. I don’t know why I say that, because I haven’t set foot on a beach all summer… but maybe you enjoyed a lovely holiday by the sea, spent time in the mountains, stayed in your city, or didn't have summer at all because you live in the Southern Hemisphere and I’m being a Northern-Hemisphere-centric a**hole. My bad! In any case, I hope you enjoyed the months leading up to our path toward the new academic year.

Immediate art forms like non-comedic improv and Playback Theatre don’t require elaborate plots, but rather making the most of the few moments you have on stage. In the latter, the plot is given to us by a teller. In improv, we just have to come up with something; sometimes it’s helpful to rely on structures like the hero’s journey. But the most compelling improv and Playback that I’ve ever seen, doesn’t need a plot but to be focused on the relationships on stage. And yes, a relationship can also be with oneself.

I always emphasize dropping the facts and focusing on the feelings. I don’t even care about the who, what, and where (even if saying that revokes my improviser license). Depending on the kind of scene work we are doing though, we should look to balance pacing and staging to avoid the scene looking like a static conversation.

In Acaprov rehearsals, every now and then, we just practice focusing on honest sharing, we are just having a conversation that happens to have an audience. We call it nothing scenes, because nothing is happening yet the audience is engaged by seeing honest human interaction on stage.

That’s my advice today. Lose the plot, engage at your own pace, and don’t be afraid of doing nothing.

🫶 Stay hydrated, love to you all.

🎭 The Theatre bit

Last week, my choice for the geeky dessert wasn't random since I wanted to foreshadow my sharing about attending the stage adaptation of Death Note, which is currently running at the Barbican Centre in London as a musical theatre piece.

A quick recap of the plot: Death Note follows Light Yagami as he finds a Shinigami’s (God of Death) notebook, granting him the power to cause death to anyone whose name is written in it. Light uses it against convicted criminals, sparking a police investigation aided by the brilliant mind of a young detective known only as L.

To be honest, I can think of many other manga more suitable for a musical adaptation; however, it worked well and is a much better adaptation than the attempts by the film industry, which resulted in, to put it generously, mediocre products.

Condensing an extensive manga into slightly more than two hours is a difficult task, and for the most part, it does a good job, especially the first act, which captures the essence of the plot and characters while propelling the story forward very efficiently.

The problem comes with the second act and its oversaturation of solo numbers. I have nothing against solos, but my perspective is biased by knowing the source material, and I didn’t really understand the decision to add more solos instead of adapting more events from the manga. They had eight volumes' worth of content to adapt, yet their choice of where to put the spotlight baffled me. Even the ending left me a bit cold. Again, they went on a different direction with it.

Being objective, though, it’s a good enough musical. The performers are excellent, the songs are good, the choreography is impressive, and the brutalist set design tailored for the Barbican is both practical and stunning.

I definitely recommend it with a word of caution, though. Barbican Centre ticket prices are high, and there aren’t as many chances to get good deals as there are for West End shows. But I don’t think you’ll regret spending the money on it.

📆 What is coming up

• 🇬🇧 11th of September - Acaprov at Shoreditch Balls (London, UK). For so many people, September is a time for another beginning. Kick off the academic year with a musical. Secure your sit.

• 🇲🇹 18th of September - Intro to Playback Theatre (Valletta, Malta). I´m honoured to be part of the facilitator roster attending the Improvizza! festival in Malta. I´m excited to introduce Playback Theatre to improvisers there. Tickets here.

• 🇲🇹 19th of September - Acaprov at IMPROVIZZA (Valletta, Malta). Yes, Acaprov will also be performing in Malta as part of the Improvizza! festival programme. If you happen to be there, come by! You’ll find tickets here.

• 🇬🇧 27th of September - True Heart Theatre open rehearsal (London, UK). We are going to be hosting another open rehearsal at the end of the third quarter. Bring your curiosity and experience Playback Theatre in a safe space. Free registration here.

• 🇮🇪 2nd of October - C*NTS (Dublin, Ireland). Premiere of the artistic unscripted theatrical piece that my friend Rosalind Grégoire and I will be bringing to Improvfest Ireland. It’ll be… interesting. Come and found out.

• 🇬🇧 9th of October - Acaprov at Shoreditch Balls (London, UK). It’ll be spooky season! Will our show be? Come and check out. Get your tickets. 🎵

📚 🎮 🎥 📺 The geeky dessert

This week, I’m recommending a movie I really enjoyed watching last weekend: They Will Kill You. The 'final girl versus evil rich people who deserve to be taken down' subgenre is in good health, and this film is very satisfying on that front.

After getting out of prison and searching for her sister Maria (Myha’la), Asia Reeves (Zazie Beetz) ends up in an old art deco hotel run by Lily (Patricia Arquette), known as The Virgil, where a cult of immortal rich people lures young women to be sacrificed in exchange for their everlasting life.

I was surprised to see the ratings for this movie across several sites, because I found it captivating. Thanks to an impeccable pace that grabs you from minute one, it’s very difficult to get bored with this film thanks to its editing. Visually, it’s very comic book-esque, presenting compelling over the top shots succeeding one after the other like panels.

Great action, lots of gore and a very cool soundtrack. This movie ticks boxes left and right.