Review: The League of Improv with George Fouracres (Phoenix Arts Club)

Review by Sam Woodward

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Even the most carefully scripted comedy changes from one performance to the next. A perfectly planned line or well-timed anecdote can land differently depending on the audience, the comic and the delivery. While this is an exciting part of live comedy, it’s an entirely different experience when the whole show is improvised. This is what happens at Phoenix Arts Club’s monthly show, The League of Improv. There are no scripts, no pre-planned stories, and certainly no rehearsed scenes. Instead, a group of talented comedians work together, with the help of anecdotes, words and ideas from the night’s audience, to create scenes which can be both wildly random and genuinely funny. Joining the company as this month’s guest star was George Fouracres, a cast member of Saturday Night Live UK. After hearing such great things about the show, I certainly entered the Phoenix Arts Club ready to laugh.

And laugh I did. There's something exciting, risky and even at times awkward about improv comedy, but this is what makes The League of Improv such an interesting show to experience. Performers on a stage are typically in charge of a room: they are the ones commanding the space, thrilling audiences and making people laugh, but at these shows, the performers on stage and members of the audience are part of one shared experience, encountering the evening in the same way. There is something personal about that adventure, and it is even more personal when the audience are invited to get involved.

George Fouracres does a good job of engaging with the audience, pulling out stories from different people ranging from the etymology of the passion fruit and the divisive spiciness of a margarita to the more NSFW discussion of intercourse with a famous bear currently residing at the Savoy Theatre. With shouted words such as ‘football’, ‘Lidl’ and ‘Canada’ added to the mix, Fouracres provides a well-balanced performance as emcee, while also offering hilarious anecdotes and an insight into his highly intelligent, if slightly random, brain. His foray into the bathrooms for a beat to test his microphone’s range and his rendition of ‘O Canada’ entirely in French are good representations of what I mean. Perhaps his fellow improvisers would have benefited from slightly more disciplined audience interaction to better prepare them for their skits, but what Fouracres lacks in organisation he certainly makes up for in comedy.

Surrounding Fouracres are comedians more experienced with improv, all of whom have performed as part of The League of Improv before. One such performer is Damian Arnold, the founder and producer of the show and a very talented comedian. His work as producer on shows such as Gypsy with Imelda Staunton, The Play That Goes Wrong and Death of a Salesman may have earned him international renown, but his improv comedy and impeccable timing were truly exceptional and he certainly deserves his place centre stage rather than working behind it. His effortless switches between Cristiano Ronaldo, a naked sound technician and Iorek Byrnison were inspired, and his quick wit and joyous energy were wonderful to watch.

The standout performer for me was Fran Reid, who was effortlessly hilarious in all of her improvised sketches and often seemed to be leading the other performers through different situations. Reid, who has a knack of being able to stitch different scenes and characters together, has an intelligent and nuanced ability to make audiences laugh. From a spiritual leader of a Gareth Southgate group (or cult?) to a citrus fruit wholesaler and even the embodiment of the supermarket Lidl, Reid commanded the stage with her sharp mind and quick humour. Surrounding Fouracres, Arnold and Reid were a group of talented comedians, including Laura Evelyn, Sean McInerney, Rhys Collier and Lora Hristova.

All of the improv comedians do well to work together to create some genuinely funny and relevant sketches, and their biggest successes come from the troupe's ability to build interconnected, character-driven scenes and narratives completely off the cuff. The fact that characters from a short skit at the beginning of the evening would reappear later, or funny moments from one skit would seamlessly tie back in later on was simply ingenious, and this creativity and playfulness is certainly the evening's biggest success. There are definitely weaker moments where the jokes don’t land or the comedians themselves aren’t on the same page, but this is to be expected from improv. When moments became awkward or overly long and complex, all members of the team were waiting on the side of the stage, switched on and able to tag each other out of a scene to move things along and get the laughs coming again. There may have been a few more slow and flat moments than I was expecting, but the cast seemed aware of this and worked hard in the second act to bring the energy, hilarity and a large dose of silliness.

It is a testament to the performers that they work without props (bar two chairs), backdrops, music or even much lighting design. The League of Improv focuses on the immediacy of improv and audience interaction, and doesn’t rely on the distraction of creative elements to cover anything up. This rawness is definitely part of the appeal, and the audience, as well as the performers on stage, were often laughing loud and loving the energetic, quick and connected comedic scenes. As a comedy lover, this was my first improv show, and I would definitely return. Another wise choice by Damian Arnold, this time as producer, is to have rotating guest comedians who bring their own different energy and interaction into the mix. Visiting The League of Improv a second time would be wonderfully different from the first, and I would like to see just how much the show differs depending on the audience, its anecdotes, the comedians on stage and the guest star.

For comedy lovers, a trip to The League of Improv is a must. It is distinctive, very funny and even intimate in its ability to blend comedy and sketches with audience interaction. Although the pace occasionally falters, the cast’s quick thinking and ability to weave earlier characters back into the action provide some of the evening’s most satisfying moments. Fouracres brings his own wonderfully random energy to proceedings, while Arnold and Reid deliver some of the night’s biggest laughs. The show remains loose, sharp and unpredictable, and that is exactly what makes it fun.

The League of Improv with George Fouracres played at Phoenix Arts Club on 11 November. Find out about their upcoming shows at https://www.theleagueofimprov.com/.