To make improv work, you need three things: audience goodwill, creative players, and a format that allows them to shine.

Goodwill was flowing when I saw Duck Duck Moose and every one of the players had a moment or two in which they showed their potential. But the format, which is a riff on Squid Game, defeats them.

For starters, the set-up takes way too long. And part of that set-up, which involves selecting a “random” volunteer from the audience is a cheat: two contenders, who arrived together, had already been preselected in the lobby, which undercut a device that could have created tension and real stakes.

And the body of the piece is not just repetitive (a game, the death of a contestant, a vote about whether to continue), it’s narrowly restrictive. The improv players get a few chances to show their stuff, in monologues before their deaths, for instance. But there are too many players, so opportunities are spread thin. And there’s not a single instance in which two or three players get to develop a scene based on audience suggestions. That’s the heart of improv and it’s missing here.

(You can read all my reviews — including Fringe reviews — on my website, Fresh Sheet Reviews. Click the URL below.)