Anywhere Theatre company sows chaos at CSU Riverina Playhouse with TOME

Freeroam Theatre will embrace the chaos of improvisation when they return to the CSU Riverina Playhouse this weekend for three performances of their show, TOME.

The improvised show is different every night, giving audiences an incentive to return for more than one performance.

While improvised theatre is best known as a comedic art form. Artistic director Jhi Rayner said the beauty of TOME is it can take almost any direction.

"We had this show on Saturday where we established this big bad character," he said.

"Then it came to this point where the big bad vampire was killed, and nobody was expecting that to happen - including the actor.

"You think you know where it might be going, then it goes somewhere else completely."

IN OTHER NEWS:

TOME was spun out of Mr Rayner's postgraduate thesis in the now-defunct CSU acting school in. Anywhere Theatre have now been performing the show off and on since 2020.

The company was put together by CSU acting graduates to give local actors an alternative to moving to Sydney, getting caught in the rat race, and never acting again.

"We really wanted to create something that was an alternative so that we could live a happier life and be able to do what we want to do in this place we've grown to love and appreciate," he said.

Performer Sally Jackson said while improvised theatre has its own unique challenges, it brings its own unique pleasures. It's rare that performers don't know how the show they're performing in is going to end.

Part of the beauty of improvised performance is that it's ephemeral - there one moment, and gone the next.

Audience and performers present at a given show are the only people that will ever share the memory of that performance.

She said the key as a performer is having a good relationship with the other members of the cast, and practising improvisation until it becomes a reflex instead of a process.

"The question comes up all the time how do you rehearse improv? It's about building our own skill sets, our understanding of story, plot and techniques," she said.

"The keystone of this kind of work is trust - all of us on stage know that if someone throws you a curveball, they probably have a good idea coming.

"It just brings a whole new level of honestly, rawness and authenticity to a performance."

Both say they get a lot of satisfaction out of listening to the audience talk about what they've seen afterwards

"In the foyer, you get four people discussing it and having four completely different interpretations about what they've seen, because they haven't had a prompt, or anything to tell them what the show's about" Miss Jackson said.

"My favourite thing is waiting backstage after a show and listening to the audience, and someone goes 'there's no way that wasn't scripted'.

"We have members of our board of directors that still don't believe it isn't scripted."

Feeroam Theatre will perform Tome Thursdayto Saturday at the CSU Riverina Playhouse Theatre. The show is improvised, and will be different every night. More information and bookings available at the Civic Theatre website.

Performance times:

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: