#101 Pint-sized badassery
Love. Magic. Spies. Nails. Vinny.
Issue #101 Pint-sized badassery
14th February 2024
Happy Valentine's Day!
And you know what I love? Improv.
Thanks to everyone who wrote to me with well wishes and kind words after last week's 100th improv wisdom issue. I loved putting it together & really valued the many instances where people's advice seemed to coalesce and agree.
And the archive keeps growing as more improvisers write in to add to the knowledge party - you can always access the most up-to-date version here.
This newsletter is also growing - I added a full 10% to my subscriber base this last week. I couldn't quite believe it when I logged in to the software this morning.
So welcome if this is your first Wednesday with us at Improv Fables. I hope you'll stick around.
Rule of three
[Book] The Scholomance
Gael Doorneweerd-Perry stands astride the international scene like a flaming titan of improv joy (you can subscribe to his newsletter here). He recommended the Scholomance series to me recently and I've basically inhaled all three books in the last few weeks. It's about a school for wizards (original) but there the Potter similarities end. The series absolutely revels in being an Emo/ Goth middle finger to the quaint tweeness of that more famous Wizarding World. It's full of death, cruelty, swearing, sex and complexity. And the main character is a compelling half-Indian/ half-Welsh evil-sorceress-in-waiting with the power to level cities.
[TV] Mr & Mrs Smith
This loose remake of the mid-aughts Brangelina vehicle, about two spies who are also married (sort-of), has no right being so supremely watchable. Donald Glover is reliably amazing (as both star and co-show runner) but for my money it's Maya Erskine who walks away with the show. Her Jane is funny, tough, vulnerable and entirely distinct from any other action hero out there.
[Game] It Takes Two
Co-op local multi-player games (played by two or more people in the same room, on the same sofa) are my absolute favourites and fill me with nostalgic joy. It Takes Two is an absolute gold-standard entry in the genre. For me, it's the level design that's the real star here (although the gonzo two nearly divorced parents are turned into toys by their grieving daughter plot is interesting too). Each new stage gives you new powers and new ways to interact with each other - you must co-ordinate closely at all times to progress through the environment - and it's that interdependence that powers most of the games wonderful set pieces. I particularly loved flinging steel nails into the walls of a shed to allow Laura's character to twirl and summersault her way up to higher levels. Pint-sized badassery.
Spotlight
It fills me with great happiness to report that improv legend, sometime starship computer and, most-importantly, one of the warmest and most genuine men I've ever met - VINNY FRANÇOIS - is coming to London to teach improv.
As a subscriber to this newsletter, you get ONE WEEK to buy tickets before anyone else even hears about it.
Vinny is presenting a 2-day Advanced Scenework Intensive on 16th-17th March from 10am-5pm each day. It's perfect for anyone who has progressed to a point where they want individual, direct and immediate feedback on their improv. I can't think of anyone better than Vinny to help you progress to the next level. He's been doing improv longer than any of the current improv schools in London have even existed.
Read more about Vinny and the class here.
And please buy your tickets as soon as you can. I expect this to sell out extremely quickly. There are 14 spaces available with two places kept at half-price, reserved for improvisers who would otherwise be unable to access this tuition.
Longform thoughts
With only a few large improv theatres operating in any given city, that’s a major bottle neck on stage time - there are only so many Friday and Saturday nights per year, you know? This is particularly true if you’re no longer an absolute beginner but neither are you a trusted 20-year veteran who will be offered shows regardless.
This week, I sing the praises of Indie nights and make heavy-handed hints about what I might be up to next.
Radio contact
Superdog.