Cellblock! is an improvised extravaganza taking place this weekend.
It runs 26 hours from 7pm today (8th October) to 9pm tomorrow, within 2 hour slots (runs about 100-110 mins of the slot). One slot is £5, an unlimited pass is £12
So here’s why to come:
1. If you’re a busy person who normally “can’t get to shows”, this won’t apply here; you can fit it in around pretty much anything. Come at 11am tomorrow, or after a long lunch at three. Or heck, roll in at 5am after clubbing – I know some people are planning on it! Each slot starts with a bit of a recap so you can slide in to the action.
2. If you haven’t seen impro before, this is a great chance to get your feet wet. Quite aside from the convenience (1.), there’s such a rich and varied cast, containing people from all kinds of groups, from Music Box to The Inflatables.
3. And this will be no ordinary impro show. So if you have seen a bit of impro before, you’d no doubt be intrigued by the idea of a hard-core cast playing characters across the entire span of the show, in an event that’s all about story, story, story. The time-honoured “mime prop box” will be augmented by genuine costumery, and the patter of the players offset by a house band. So: bigger, louder, longer.
4. And weirder. You’ve got to wonder what happens when people enter a make-believe world and remain in it unsleeping for more than a day. We wonder too! Word has it, some filters drop away and things become very interesting.
5. If you’re of the appetite, this could be a pretty unique audience experience. Because unlimited passes retail at just £12, you can dip in and out across the run – Saturday night, a Sunday matinee and back for the grand finale – or go for the ultimate, and suck up six, ten, or even 26 hours worth. (At last year’s Bristol improvathon I could only make it for the end, but managed the last eight hours, and the immersive qualities of living through that much non-stop story was pretty amazing. Like a boxed set binge if it were weaved before your eyes!)
I’m limbering up for an amazing performance experience, but it would be remiss of me not to share it with you. So why not come along for a show – or the whole thing?
Tickets are here or on the door.