Improbable's Lee Simpson talks to Naima Khan about the improvised global hit that is Lifegame.
Improbable's show Lifegame at Lyric Hammersmith is often described as a kind of on-stage interview. After getting the skinny from Lee Simpson, one of Improbable's three artistic directors, I'm not so sure. The more Lee explains about the show, the more it sounds like what you might expect from the title: a game, albeit a weighty one.
As one Improbable performer chats away to a willing participant about various episodes of their life, the other performers re-enact those poignant scenes. “The company who perform on stage have no idea who the guests are going to be,” Lee explains. “When they walk on stage it's the first time we've ever seen them. The whole show is about someone we've never met before.”
Lifegame for the most part is utterly hilarious, occasionally very dark and always intriguing. As Lee puts it: “It's like a good meal; there are lots of different flavours”. It takes its name from an improvisational format devised by the father of imrprov, Keith Johnston. Originally 'The Life Game', it's a way of playing with the most memorable people and events in our own histories.
“In our culture there's an idea that only famous people are the heroes of their own stories. Their stories are a drama which unfolds in gossip magazines and on television and its like the rest of aren't as interesting and that's so not true,” Lee explains. “Everyone of us is dealing with the big stuff: love, death, birth, friendship. I think it's worth celebrating that. I think it's worth saying to everybody in the audience, 'fair play to you, you're all living life with courage, nobility, wisdom, humour and no one ever tells you that'”. Lee admits that describing the show can make it sound po-faced and a bit like a kind of cathartic therapy. It probably is purgative on some level but Lifegame is the kind show that requires all those involved to be game and so it's impossible to be po-faced about it.
Given the unpredictability of the 'characters' that may or may not be involved, preparing for the show is no mean feat for the performers, who have an interesting take on the rehearsal process. “The way we look at it is training for a sporting event. You know roughly the game you're going to be playing but you don't know what the outcome's going to be or what you're going to be asked to do. So either our preparation will be good, the same as or better than England – who knows?”
What makes Lifegame stand out from the array of comedy theatre on offer is the effect it has on the audience. Much like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind made us wonder which sod we'd most like to erase from our memory, Improbable also poses the Lifegame questions to the audience via the participant on stage. “When a question is asked, everyone in the audience will answer that question in their own head. They'll think about the teacher that was important to them. We might talk about your parents, hiccups in that relationship, a brilliant family holiday or a meal you shared and people will go 'oh yeah I know my version of that story'.”
Essentially Lifegame allows the audience to be the hero of their own story by devoting an entire evening's theatre to their memories as they like to remember them. Contrary to a number of critics, Lee also points out its contribution to the arts: “it shows us that it's not a bad thing for theatre to remind us of our humanity. It's sort of shocking – it makes you feel weird in your body”. Which is exactly what theatre should do.
Lifegame runs at Lyric Hammersmith from 7th-17th July
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