Adelaide all-female improv comedy troupe Alex and the Babes double down on the challenge of creating comedic theatre on the fly by asking the audience to direct the action.
For lovers of literary-inspired arts, there’s no better place to escape a heatwave than an air-conditioned library. So stepping into the book-lined splendour of the library in Ayers House is delightful before the five players even start to weave their magic.
As the show begins, we are whisked on a nostalgic trip back to high school English class with a swift lesson on the Japanese poetry form of haiku – a three-line poem with a strict syllable count and seasonal reference thrown in. One of the players draws ideas from the audience in an impromptu word association exercise with a healthy lean towards the bizarre and whimsical. In mere minutes, the haiku has been composed and with barely time to draw breath, the first act takes off.
With every performance composed from a fresh poem, there’s no danger of spoilers. Using “Wine and persimmons” as a first line, the action on this night begins in a winery specialising in palette-challenging flavours. After a vintage with “burned egg” notes, foot-crushing persimmons doesn’t seem that strange.
There’s no sense of warming up – the women are on fire from the opening scene, riffing off each other with obvious delight, the absurdity escalating as the play progresses. Candles made from old bubble gum scrapings. Puppies used as wedding table centrepieces. Instagram-addicted bachelorettes.
Sensing when the energy of an interaction has peaked, one of the off-stage comedians will step forward, announcing a scene change. The gorgeous backdrop of library shelves packed with leather-spined volumes is imaginatively transformed from the vine-striped hillside of a South Australian winery to the bleak and foggy wilds of the Scottish highlands, to a bird-infested local park.
The impromptu characters are even more idiosyncratic – winery operators Shaylee and Karen, a crusty old Scottish hunter and town crier, a bevy of selfie-addicted bachelorettes, a two-year-old prodigy and her reluctant godmother. An elderly dragon and her bevy of crow handmaidens. And, most hilariously, a candle-making Reverend and his schoolteacher sister.
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The five women take obvious delight in each other’s company and skills, the sharp-witted humour unfolding with no sense of competition or one-upmanship. Their comedic timing is impressively tight, rarely a minute passing without laughter.
Weaving the bizarrely varied three acts back to a hilarious conclusion (if you count a mythical Scottish beastie swooping a wedding as a resolution), Alex and the Babes bring the show to an impressive close. And the beauty of improv comedy is that you can attend every performance and be delighted anew.
Haiku For You is playing on February 23 and 24 at the Library in Ayers House.
Read more 2023 Adelaide Fringe stories and reviews on InReview here.
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