I have been interviewed a couple of times this year so thought I would include them here for your reading and listening pleasure. The first is an interview with Komi Sellathurai from ‘City Hub’ in the lead up to our Theatresports National Championships, and the second is an audio interview with Richard Bennett-Forrest, creator of the ‘Improv Insider’ website.
Enjoy!
Interview with Komi Sellathurai from ‘City Hub’:
(1) Could you start by telling us a little about Theatresports?
Theatresports has been staged in Sydney since 1985 and is played in over 100 countries. The set structure of games challenges performers to create instant theatre based on surprise offers and audience suggestions. The result is a spontaneous, and often hilarious, team-based performance. Theatresports and improvised theatre is the inspiration for such TV shows as ‘Whose Line is it Anyway?’ and ‘Thank God You’re Here!’
(2) How do you prepare for Theatresports?
Improv classes give you a good grounding in the skills needed to play Theatresports. The main things you learn are to say ”YES” in your scenes, listen to your team-mates and respond ‘in the moment’ to any offers which may be given to you.
(3) Do you expect certain situations? Do you use pre-prepared material?
Certain suggestions from the audience do come up time after time (you’d be surprised how many people want to see scenes set in a toilet!) but we prefer the situations given to us to be fresh and new. We don’t use pre-prepared material but many experienced players know the kinds of things they are good at and play to those strengths (for example, musical games or Shakespearean scenes).
(4) Do you have time to think when doing improv?
Yes and No! You are always thinking but the key is to be focused on the NOW – not trying to plan where the scene is going but just letting it happen organically. Usually once we are given the starting suggestion for a scene we have about 5 seconds before we start so there is not a lot of thinking time.
(5) How did you get involved in improv?
I used to watch Theatresports on TV and we did a few improv games at school. There were also shows at my university which I went to all the time. The big Uni stars at that time are now doing pretty well for themselves (Andrew O’Keefe, Adam Spencer & Rob Carlton). I then started doing Theatresports classes in Sydney and it all just happened from there.
(6) What do you so when you just can’t stop laughing?
There have been a couple of times when I have cracked up on stage, but usually the audience is also laughing so hard they don’t notice you have broken character, or if they do notice they just find it all the more amusing. If you are being true to your character and to the scene, it is actually pretty easy to keep a straight face even when something really hilarious happens.
(7) What do you do when you have nothing funny to say?
You do the most obvious thing your character would do in that moment. Some of the funniest moments in improv come from very real, honest reactions which were never intended to be funny. One of the Theatresports golden rules is “Don’t try to be funny”.
(8) Describe your mental state before you go on stage.
My team and I usually go through some quick exercises like word associations, silly physical games and vocal warm-ups, which help us get in a good mental space to improvise. I don’t really get nervous anymore but I do feel excited and energised. I also like to take a quiet moment just before I go on stage to get focused and harness my energy into doing a great show. It’s a little bit zen but it works for me!
(9) What would you do if you weren’t a comedian / improv artist?
Well I am a trained teacher so I would either be teaching or dabbling in organised crime. I’ve been watching Underbelly and it looks pretty lucrative. If there was some way to combine those two, that would be ideal, like scamming the kids out of their lunch money in return for good grades…
…I should probably just stick with improv 
Click the link below to listen to the Audio Interview with Richard Bennett-Forrest from ‘Improv Insider’:
Lisa x
