by macro:
BERLIN – On Oct. 3rd 2013, three players from BATS Improv were guest performers at BühnenRausch: Rebecca Poretsky, Lisa Rowland, and Regina Saisi – all company members in San Francisco´s well known improv theatre – showed off their skills in Berlin for the first time.
The sold out BühnenRausch theatre was filled with many improv players from Berlin, and other places in Germany and Europe, in part due to the AIN Conference for Applied Improvisation that took place at the time. It was thanks to the AIN Conference, which the three players attended, and thanks to ”Theater ohne Probe” member Uta Walter´s initiative, that we got to enjoy a remarkable show.
In its over 25 years of existence, BATS has strongly influenced long-form improv in the Bay Area. Originally working in Keith Johnstone´s Theatresports tradition (BATS after all stands for Bay Area Theatresports), the company began establishing a variety of long-form styles in 1986. Atmospherically tight and focused storytelling – often filling a two-hour show with intermission – has become a unique signature feature of BATS Improv.
Big applause and calls for encores
The evening entitled „Scenes & Stories“ began with a variety of scenes inspired by a single suggestion: Banana. While the first scenes still involved a number of fruits, the remainder began to associatively expand on the themes, resulting in high-quality two- and three-person scenes that were woven together very organically. Interesting and true-to-life characters filled the stage. It was impressive how characters stayed perfectly truthful and believable even when singing duets or thoughts from offstage, or when male characters were portrayed without invoking clichés. Big applause and calls for encores at intermission already indicated the excitement of the audience.
In the second half of the show, Regina, Rebecca, and Lisa presented a long-form play, inspired simply by the location. Several suggestions from the audience were gathered and thoughtfully discussed before they agreed on “skyscraper”. Through scene-painting, the three players took turns creating the set and established elements were repeated to strengthen the illusion. Entrances and furniture pieces were firmly set. In the initial scene we learned the memorable name of the office “Newton, Lilly, & Poop”. Regina´s laughing fits hinted at the fact that metabolic output is not her regular topic, but she beautifully managed to include her tears of laughter as part of the story. The “mistake” was embraced and turned poop into gold.
Three powerful women and an amazing show
By taking time and with courage to go slow, the players let the audience feel an underlying conflict without naming it immediately. Uwe Matschke at the piano beautifully supported the development through his minimalistic and precise play that gradually increased the emotional intensity. At the same time, he allowed ample room for the acting to unfold and avoided any overburdening by music. Bravo for this great accomplishment! The three players, who each played and maintained only one character for the entire time, slowly heightened the tension until finally the conflict and emotions erupted. Again, the truthfulness and believability of the characters was impressive and followed by long applause.
For a Q&A session immediately after the show, the three players pulled some chairs to the edge of the stage and clearly enjoyed their exchange with the audience. The performance itself was a topic of discussion as well as interesting details about the BATS Improv company. A particular point was made about the strength of female players in the ensemble. Ten of the 20 company members are women and BATS also makes a point of equally shared opportunities for women to direct shows, – a quite unusual case in the U.S. Improv landscape. I cannot imagine any better ambassadors for this attitude than these three powerful women and their amazing show.
- Improfestival 2023 – Solo-Musical von Gilly Alfeo begeistert - 12. März 2023
- IMPRO IM PARK – 10 Orte 10 Workshops umsonst und draußen - 2. August 2021
- Berliner Impro Marathon 2021: 24 Stunden Impro on- und offline - 30. Juni 2021