Murder She Improvised

Murder, She Improvised - Sherlock Holmes Meets West Edmonton Mall By Augustus Williams

The hit comedy show returns to Edmonton Fringe this year with a rotating lineup of wonderful improvisers and a brand new show, every show. Murder, She Improvised was a funny, chaotic, spur of the moment improv act hosted by Rapid Fire Theatre. As with any improv show, a new plot is guaranteed for every performance. The entire piece was underscored by a live pianist, who excellently picked up on whatever the actors were laying down to help set the mood of the scenes. All seven actors in the show I saw were fantastic improv artists, who created memorable characters and unfolded the murder story over the course of the hour. This show is a wild ride where even the people on stage have no idea what will happen next, and it will most definitely have you crying with laughter by the end.

With improv shows that change their actors nightly, you get a new show every night. Firstly, actors capable of improv at this level are always enjoyable. I went early on as I wanted to see which actors I would pick out to see in their own show. Much like riding the Ferris wheel when you first get to the carnival to see the layout of the park. You can plan the rest of your week as you spot your path. To their credit, they played to the sensitivity of their audiences. If a joke didn't land, they moved on quickly. They were performers at the top of their game!

Please note the star missing is because I did happen to see an improv group that has worked together frequently and it showed.

Murder She Improvised is an absolutely hilarious show where the actors are trying to figure out who the murder is as much as the audience, to the point that they might just confess because they don’t know - they could be the murderer.

The line to get in was particularly confusing for this show, Rapid Fire always has a bit of a confusing line for shows that are at capacity but this was on another level, not sure why. I would recommend getting there early so that you can be near the front of the line and avoid the confusion (if you are okay standing for a while). Another reason to be early is that during the fringe they add a couple extra rows of seats and it messes with some of the sightlines. I was in the third row and had a hard time seeing things, so I would recommend being in the front row if you can’t or don’t want to do stairs or being higher up.

When you enter there are slips of paper you can fill out with suggestions (the sillier the better) to be used later in the show, otherwise there is no participation needed. I did not fill out a slip because writing by hand is difficult for me but I’m sure that if you really wanted to you could ask someone to write a suggestion down for you, the people there are nice.

The actor playing Antonio Dazzles was wearing a jacket that combined with the lights was rather blinding and distracting (the narrator actually made a comment on regretting the choice early on), so I wore sunglasses. I also wore loop quiet earplugs and used an infinity cube.

This show is a hoot from beginning to end, as everyone working on it is incredible from actors to musicians to crew! The murder weapon this time was the suggestion of liposuction, and somehow by the end I believed them, they were just that good. So if you want to watch people argue that they're not the murderer because the murderweapon of choice isn't how they'd kill the person. Or explain how their alibi of filming a chip commercial during a picnic during the couple seconds the lights were out and the murder happened works all you have to do is get a ticket and make a suggestion.

Having never attended this show before I did not know what to expect. While waiting in line I noticed that there was children and thought “oh? I guess it’ll be an all Patrons improv show…”. .

Well…was I ever wrong! An F bomb was said within the first 10 minutes of the show and the laughs didn’t stop there. Now let me clarify that a great improv show does not need crude behaviour to be funny but some topics do need to be left off the list for obvious reasons.

Adding in murder suggestions from the audience made the show even funnier cause you’re hoping to hear what the cast might say even if the suggestions aren't your own.

The Rapid Fire cast were all on point and to top it off we were fortunate to see Belinda Cornish and Jacob Banigan in today’s performance. Great show, will see it again.