Next month, the biggest impro event of the year – the Theatresports Grand Championships – will hit the Brisbane Comedy Festival! This show will feature some of our favourite hand-picked performers from around Australia and New Zealand (including some of the sharpest performers from right here in Brisbane).

I am particularly excited to run the show this year after Covid disrupted our plans last year with border closures and lock-downs forcing us to reschedule and preventing our special guests from attending.

I love Theatresports. It’s how I fell in love with impro in the *cough* late 90s * cough*. I encountered Theatresports like many people, through the schools’ Theatresports competition run by Roger Beames (who still runs it, by the way. Impro keeps you young). I remember being immediately entranced – the games, the judging, the moment of synchronicity with your fellow performers where you both immediately know without any words that you are going to do a scene about King Kong.

Brisbane actually has a long history of hosting big Theatresports competitions. We hosted a massive worldwide competition during Expo ‘88, and we regularly held big competitions throughout the 1980s and 1990s at the old La Boite Theatre, such as the Burbrooke Cup. It is this mantle that ImproMafia is proud to have taken up in recent years.

ImproMafia’s first major Theatresports show was in 2011, when we hosted the National Theatresports Competition in the Visy Theatre as part of our Off the Cuff Festival of improvised theatre. The Nationals is a huge competition – there were teams representing every State and Territory of Australia (except Tasmania). It was a chaotic, hilarious show in which a combined New South Wales/Queensland team (or “Queen South Wales”) almost won the night.

This show inspired me to create a similar big competition just for Brisbane audiences. And so was born, the Theatresports Grand Championships.

The Performers

What makes these kinds of shows so unique are the performers we invite to take part, who come from all over Australia and New Zealand. In the past we have been host to such world class improvisers as Daniel Cordeaux, Jason Geary, Patti Stiles, Amy Moule, and two members of the Axis of Awesome (amongst many others).

This is part of the magic of the Grand Championships – you will see some of the best performers from Queensland on stage alongside amazing performers from Sydney, Melbourne, New Zealand, and elsewhere, who spark and bounce off each other and create some of the best improvised theatre you will experience anywhere in the world.

The Grand Championships also showcase the depth of Queensland’s improvisation talent. Improvisation has come a long way over the last few decades, and our current crop of performers are absolutely amazing to see on stage – alternatively funny, dark, sweet, and dramatic.

Stay tuned for exciting announcements about our cast for this year’s show…..

The musician

Our musicians are a big part of what makes these shows so special. It takes incredible skill to be an accompanying musician for an impro show. You need to create a melody from scratch while keeping in time (and in the same key) as the improvisor who you are supporting. It’s a rare skill and we are lucky to have had some amazing musicians share the stage with us over the years.

The musician for this year’s show is the amazingly talented Kris Anderson. Kris has been performing music for impro for over 20 years (I kid you not), and can effortlessly use his keyboard to create a sea shanty or an opera, a rock ballad or a rap. He is a versatile Svengali of a muso.

The Venue

You need a special venue for a big show like the Theatresports Grand Championships. We held our first big show – the National Theatresports Championships – in the Visy Theatre at the Powerhouse. The Visy (now the Underground Theatre) is a perfect space for improvisation. Intimate, connected, and unique. However, we sold the show out weeks in advance and the only way we could fit the performers in was to sit them on the stage.

We then moved onto the Judith Wright theatre and - finally - the Brisbane Powerhouse as part of the Brisbane Comedy Festival. The Powerhouse Theatre is a fantastic space for impro – it’s big enough to fit a big, warm crowd but it remains quite intimate and friendly.

The Director (me)

You have to be a bit mad to run a big, national Theatresports competition. It takes months of work: finding performers from around Australia (and getting them to Brisbane), organising rehearsals, and planning set design and marketing  - all for a single night of theatre. It’s a massive effort and you always have the anxiety that you really never know how the show is going to go until it’s happening.

It’s an act of faith – you get together amazing, inspiring actors and put them into a beautiful, big theatre in front of a friendly crowd and then something magical happens.

It means a lot to be able to continue this Brisbane tradition and to play my part in bringing Theatresports to new audiences and new generations. The performers and I are really looking forward to sharing this special night of improv with you.