Review: Tales From The Wasteland: Post-Apocalyptic Improv
I can’t lie. When I was first invited to review an improv show a few years back, I approached the day with wariness. A group of people coming up with jokes, and the entire plot, on the spot did not fill my heart with joy. It felt like dancing with the cringe devil. You know what though? I walked away from that show feeling delightfully wrong - and with a newfound admiration for the Art form. So, when I was invited to review a different improv show, Tales from The Wasteland, I was positively psyched.
Tales from The Wasteland is, in their words, “an improvised post-apocalyptic adventure comedy”. Inspired by the likes of The Last of Us and Fallout, the twisted cast of raiders and mutants craft an absurd plot, inspired by a prompt picked by random and provided by an audience member. The show can go literally anywhere, as there is no pre-prepared characters or plot. Everything is, as you’d expect with improv, made up then and there.
The night kicked off with ‘Blame of Thrones’. A show centred around a scheming Machiavellian court following the downfall of their King. As mentioned, both shows relied upon a prompt from the audience to inspire the trajectory of their story, and I have to say, somewhat sheepishly, that Blame of Thrones were let down by their fellow people. The prompt: “what whimsical accident has befallen the King” was answered somewhat limply with the randomly chosen answer of “he fell down during a game.” Having said this, they managed to do the best they could with the material they were given. The crew was full of eloquent and intelligent performers, and what started off as the King, apparently, just falling down turned into a heated and humorous battle for the throne between a meek yet serial-killer-esque 12 year-old prince, and a war-crazed General.
The cast of ‘Blame of Thrones’
And then came the big dogs, Tales from The Wasteland. They were compelling from the get-go, with much more luck too. Their prompt “what modern element of society has survived the apocalypse?” was answered much more entertainingly with this response: Japanese toilets.
Their world-building is bewitching; conjuring a violent, gory Mad Max vibe alongside whimsical and, somehow, endearing characters. The cast are a talented bunch of amateur improvisers who have come up on the well-beloved Bristol improv scene, and their experience shows. The ensemble perform confidently, wrangling the uncertainty of spontaneity into a cohesive plot, all whilst creating genuine laugh-out-loud moments.
Also, credit where credit is due, as much as I enjoyed everyone, the host of the night who also doubled up as an actor in the Wasteland ensemble, was the star of the show. It was his input (deciding that the Japanese toilet would print a toilet paper henchman) that gave the story momentum, purpose and a villain to react against. Anytime a scene appeared to be getting a little unwieldy, he would save it with a well-thought out line or the decision to speed up the scene with a well-placed “three hours later” from the sidelines. He understood the art of improv, calling attention to the ludicrousness of the cast decisions, and expanding the imaginative potential of the whole world with his ideas. The toilet-paper-and-shit henchman, as ridiculous as it sounds, was the saviour of the Wasteland.
Above all, this performance reminded me of the lens through which to watch an improv performance. A big part of the humour comes from engaging with the fact that people are truly making up things on the spot, and choosing to lean into that. You can watch the surprise on the actor’s faces as they react to what is being put out there, you can revel in the could-be awkwardness when someone is struggling to decide what to say next. Some jokes land. Some jokes don’t. And that’s totally fine. Improv is a live thing. The plot is grown in front of your eyes, and you’re at the mercy of other people’s imaginations. What Tales from The Wasteland does well is bring a self-assuredness to all of this, creating a raucous and zany atmosphere, which allows you to sit back and relax into the medium. I chuckled my way through the whole hour.
If you haven’t seen improv before, Tales from a Wasteland are a great way to dip your toe into the water. My one word of warning? If they ask you for a prompt, and you can’t think of anything funny, just put the pen down.
You can find out more about Tales from The Wasteland, and their upcoming shows, on their instagram.
Written by Jessica Blackwell
I’m Jess, the founder of The Everyday Magazine. I work as a Studio Manager for a Boudoir Photography studio and, as a general rule, I like to write about things that would be awkward to discuss with the family.
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