unpredictable improv
Last year, Dru Cripps found the props for his Fringe show had been accidentally thrown out, so this year he’s back with no props (aside from a loop machine attached to him) and a completely improvised show.
As a result, no two shows are the same, and there’s a high degree of dependency on audience interaction. We start off incredibly strongly with a solid 12 mins of mime and audience driven sound effects. This sounds a bit mad to start a show with silence from the performer (and it is) but it’s great fun and the audience participated with gusto.
The remainder of the show comprised songs about the jobs of audience members, based on a different genre of music.. This is where the crowd really didn’t help matters – two of the four chosen weren’t that forthcoming and whilst it’s commendable that Dru persisted to get information out of them, maybe switching up the questions could have unveiled a richer seam of comedy than asking what they do. We did have fun with two of them, and the invited cameo(es) of a nearby Border Terrier, but we were running out of steam by the time we reached the final minutes.
Nights like this are always a possibility with improv, and whilst the songs Dru created were fun, but could do with a few more set-piece ideas or different music genres, to fall back on when the crowd dry up. On another night, where the audience are more forthcoming then it would likely be a completely different show – and I can see the attraction of coming back again to see a different iteration play out. The venue is also very small (it’s literally a shipping container) so this does limit the scope to move on to other crowd members.
The joy of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe is that risks can be taken, and those willing to take a chance on something entirely unpredictable should give this show a go. It will be silly, and there might be a dog, who knows!
“Dru Cripps: Juicy Bits” runs until 25 August, at 21:00 at Wee Container @ Hoots at Potterow. Tickets can be bought from: https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/dru-cripps-juicy-bits