From Austin, TX, the ensemble of four guys and a gal comprising Avaliable Cupholders focus on genre-related improv. They present a dartboard containing such “genres” as comedy of manners, sci-fi, Shakespeare, Tween eroticism, avant garde. On the night I attended, an audience member set off the dart here that favored a Shakespearian type of comedy. Another audience member chose the title (and thus the subject) of “It Lives” for a long-form improv.
The play began on a battlement, as in Hamlet, introducing a young watch, a princess in a tower, and her father the king awakened but half-sleepwalking. Nearby the castle was an ominous forest from which were likely to emerge non-human characters as well as suitors. The funniest scene, though, was near the start in the princess’s boudoir where she was being dressed and made up by four silly servants. Forest scenes included comic foreboding of death and an active tree stump. A lot of activity emulated Shakespeare, but any resemblance to his verse was coincidental.
A second, shorter improv mainly favored a Tween eroticism approach and another that was rather quickly mysterious. Title: Busted Flats. A couple felt troubled by an escaped prisoner Jack Devereaux. A librarian, Jack’s family, and a driver morphed into a tale of werewolves and vampires. The audience seemed to be divided into the “play” being funnier or less funny than it sounds. There was, perhaps, too little substance for a long- form improv. The subject might have been better treated in less time with less repetition--initially quite effective--of comic schtick related to vampires.
Available Cupholders had a somewhat more professional approach and less scruffy appearance than Friday night’s typical performing groups. They worked cohesively at all times.
