zur deutschen Version Author: Sören Boller
Translation: Oliver Grytzmann

BERLIN – What game show did Lee White like best as a child? Family Feud – obviously. Thus the improviser from the CRUMBS (Winnipeg) welcomed the audience in the English Theatre visibly delighted as Prof. Spontaneous, on the evening of March 21st, 2013. The intent of the duo’s own format is to fuse theatre sports with a game show – and the performance made good on that promise. An ensemble of 10 highly experienced actors competed to master the IQ Challenge. Naturally, the music was delivered by DJ Hunnicut (CRUMBS) for this occasion.

The show unfolded as follows: two players at a time were drawn by lot to participate in a competitive game show like Family Feud, Connect Four, or guessing the name of a song; the winner was awarded one extra point, that was added to up to five points distributed by the audience. Each scene should be short and based on the correct answer.

Fun Without Ceasing

White, as well as the actors and the audience, had a blast; the evening was made even more memorable as the players went beyond the rules by cheating and other amusing means. Several impressively played scenes counterbalanced other less eventful sequences, while all of them were worth watching. Too bad the format prohibited the extension of promising scenes by a few more minutes.

A Great Format In A Great Show

A noteworthy scene, though not particularly profound and well played, was performed by Daylnn D ́Souza (Improv Comedy Mumbai); in it, he attempted to reenact the life of fellow improviser Randy Dixon – who was not part of the cast on this evening – and included hilarious absurdities.

The final and decisive scene took place in round four of the game show between Jacob Banigan (Theater am Bahnhof, Graz) and Felipe Ortiz (PICNIC, Bogotá). White intervened as moderator regularly within seconds, bugging the two contestants about questions concerning Europe. In the end, Banigan was justly triumphant by majority vote of the audience.

Altogether it was a great format in a great show and the lack of prolonged stories within the highly watchable scenes was the only letdown of the evening. In conclusion: we are eager to witness more episodes and formats by the CRUMBS.