2007 Del Close Marathon Wrap Up
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After watching 36 hours of a 56 hour improv marathon, improv stops looking so much like improv and more like a math equation. You can see patterns forming between performers and see differences in the way geographic locales play. After watching 36 hours of improv, you become a bit of a machine, analyzing each scene for what worked and what didn’t.It was however in this haze of performers, dank body odor, and beef jerky that I truly saw improv for what it is, a groundwork for group mind. A set of traffic patterns to allow a group of performers act like one singular entity. When a group was acting as a whole, they seemed to be reading eachother’s minds, moving in time with one another. When it worked it was incredible (Buiscutville [Creepy guys in a Van], Delta Force 2 [What Happened? Where Were You?], Bruckheimer [An Army of Homeless People], Reuben Williams [Pierre Runs Away]) and when it didn’t, it wasn’t incredible.
Punctuating this mass of performances were the UCB 4 themselves, who got on stage frequently to talk to the audience and answer questions. That for me, was one of my biggest highlights of the marathon. I must have heard Ian Roberts talking over 3 hours about life, love, and improvisation and the majority was truly brilliant. When the 4 got on stage together they really did seem to transform the space. While they really were performing bits the entire time, the energy was contagious.