Screwballed for On The Spot’s 13th Anniversary; review by Amy Johnson Guest Staff Reviewer for Hitting The Stage
This February, On The Spot, Hawaii’s longest running improvisational comedy group, will be celebrating their 13th anniversary. To kick off the year the group, consisting of Garrick Paikai, Alissa Joy Lee, and R. Kevin Garcia Doyle, and featuring Christine Lamborn, started with an improvised screwball comedy, Screwballed.
The show began with Game-O-Matic, where a different group of improvisers (Renato Rodonez, Diana Wan,Maggie Embic, Becky Neff, and Matthew Toyama) introduced games that had been created in a class series with Paikai and proceeded to play them. The five-person group took turns introducing each game and a different combination of players would then perform each game. The games themselves were fun and quirky, as improv games often are. However, the performances of the games lacked drive. While most games contained a story, they did not have the kind of conflict that engages the audience. There were still some wonderful one-liners that made each game enjoyable.
The most entertaining game was called “Find a Way to Enter Another World.” In this game, the stage was divided into four quadrants. Each quadrant had some kind of restriction: physical, verbal, or stylistic. The fourth quadrant involved a punishment such that when one action was performed the actor had to subsequently perform another action. This led to some very entertaining and funny physical comedy, which was the reason this game was so successful. There was, in fact, a story behind this game, and the antics only served to further the story and make it much, much funnier.
While the games were no standout by any means, they were a good warm-up for the audience to get into the spirit of the show. They set the stage for the true highlight of the evening: the screwball comedy itself. Paikai and Lamborn were the focus of the “movie,” and they created consistent, witty characters. The two characters, over the course of the story, must somehow transport a large diamond (the size of two fists) from New York to Los Angeles. With a cast of only four, Doyle and Lee played multiple supporting roles that in many ways were the funniest part of the show. More often than not, the two worked as a pair that had genuine rapport and played off of each other exceptionally well.
Lamborn and Paikai also had excellent chemistry. It developed throughout the performance, which added depth to the characters and made the audience connect with them. In many screwball comedies, the woman is the true leader of the leading pair, and Lamborn stepped up to that responsibility. As a newcomer to the improv scene, she had a remarkable ability to keep pace that gave her the air of control, even when her character was not necessarily achieving her goal. Lamborn’s consistency gave the character a lot of strength.
The whole thing had very good continuity. Doyle finished the comedy by bringing back a bit that had not been brought up since the start of the show. There were no noticeable contradictions within the story; the whole thing felt like watching a movie. If that was the goal, it was certainly achieved. However, much like a film, it had slow moments, and there were perhaps one too many throughout the show. While they were no less well-performed than the quicker-paced scenes, the energy had a noticeable drop, and it took a bit to get back into the higher energy action. That said, the performance truly was the highlight of the night. It was the funniest and most impressive part of the show.
The show ended with both On The Spot and the performers from Game-O-Matic playing more familiar improv games. Perhaps it was because the games were more well-known, but this set of games was much more entertaining. The performers of Game-O-Matic seemed much more familiar with these games, and thus more comfortable. That allowed them to focus on the story, and less on remembering what they were doing, which in turn allowed them to show their skill as improvisers much better.
The show provided an incredibly fun night. On The Spot has yet to disappoint their audiences, and consistently delivers witty repartee. Screwballed was a wonderful way to kick off their 13th anniversary and gave a taste of the shenanigans to come.
Original Artical: http://http://www.hittingthestage.com/screwballed-for-on-the-spots-13th-anniversary/
