Lifegame at Lyric Hammersmith

Lifegame at Lyric Hammersmith

12 July, 2010
by: Naima Khan

Spontaneous interactive comedy with Improable theatre.

Lifegame is risky improvised theatre well worth chancing. A theatre sport of sorts, it requires a presenter, a group of highly skilled actors, a couple of musicians and a mystery guest. The guest is known only to a researcher who has taken a few minutes to ensure the person has at least potential to be interesting. But nothing is guaranteed on the night. A bout of nerves or hesitation over what to reveal or how much and things could plateau. Not great when you have the sizeable audience of the Lyric Hammersmith waiting to be tickled pink. 

I was fortunate to see Lifegame on an exemplary night. This time, there's no prepared envelope with a name on it; instead, taking an exceptionally risky gamble, tonight's two guests are picked at random from the audience.

The show that follows provides a great example of things that can go brilliantly and things that are, well, less than desirable for a show like this. The first guest is undeniably sweet but also quiet. Unable to identify the aspects of her life that might be interesting or entertaining, things get off to a slow start but here's where presenter Lee Simpson comes in. With a few simple questions he draws out the most endearing and surprisingly funny episodes in his guest's life. Before long, we are championing the underdog and watching a bully get his comeuppance to an impressive spontaneous musical. 

The second guest, having seen how things work and generally being a little cockier than the previous participant launches into hilarious revelations of his childhood, growing up in South Africa in the ‘80s when computers were massive. The performers are experts at sussing out a guest like this and are unafraid of calling him on it. We get to watch the actors rib him a little as they play his mum and dad at a parents’ evening. The guest possesses the required sense of humour about himself, happily plays one of his own teachers and gives as good as he gets. 

Lifegame is completely collaborative and interactive: the actors, musicians, guests and audience all take part and contribute ideas. The genius of it lies in the spontaneity. The seamless way things come together without hesitation or delay on the part of the performers is the wow-factor here. They make our most embarrassing moments triumphant and catapult mere audience members to hero-status as they become the stars of their own story. This is a risky, risky game but well worth the gamble.

Lifegame runs at Lyric Hammersmith until 17th July. 

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Naima Khan