The Suggestibles – Alphabetti Theatre

I’ve been to The Suggestibles hilarious Impro Pantso for the past two years and thought it was about time I saw them do something that didn’t involve Christmas, so it was great to see them at Alphabetti Theatre as part of the first Newcastle Improv Festival (their idea of course).

Things very quickly got random (and hot) – early suggestions from the audience included Ghandi and a whisk and issues with the Sunderland border. Then we were treated to a Shakespearean rap before the players were moved into different positions in Freeze Tag. I’ve heard of some weird things going on in Ubers, but transporting a pole vault?! Some cast members then had to deal with different TV genres such as reality TV, Ealing Comedy and Kabuki (Japanese dance-drama) to hilarious effect. Of course we couldn’t have got through the show without Love Island being mentioned. A segment involving a TV presenter and rotating weird guests made me chuckle before the interval, where copious amounts of liquid were needed to deal with the worsening heat.

Fence improv with The Suggestibles

Before the interval audience members were encouraged to put dialogue suggestions into a hat to be used in the second half of the show. We were then treated to some clever song improv to the tune of Da Do Ron Ron, a segment with one syllable names, and game called New Choice were cast members told the person in play when they had to change their story. I marvelled at the bonkers ways that they came up with to try and get across what the household issue was (pet hair in the dishwasher of course). The show came to end with a new version of Lloyd Webber’s Aspects of Love musical, which became Aspects of Festivals. I was glad that I’d had a few drinks at this point – as things got super weird – numerous festival goers became obsessed with Brett from Suede, then Abba featured quite heavily in the song influences. Words to describe the night – mind-bending, genius escapism. 

*I received a ticket in exchange for a review. 

To find out more about the Suggestibles click here