Edinburgh Fringe 2010
Low Down
It’s easy to get cynical about certain genres. You begin to feel that once you’ve seen one improv group, for instance, you’ve seen them all. Particularly if they’re stuck doing short-form improv, and if they’re doing nothing very interesting with it. Not that each improvisation comedy group is required to do something entirely revolutionary with the games they play, but – well, as we’ve said: once you’ve seen one .. Essentially, it doesn’t take too long for your standards to get very high, and that is very often only met by a few of the more established groups. The younger ones appear to want to walk before they can run.
Review
What sets Battle Acts! Apart from a good deal of those other less-established groups that are around is their sheer verve and energy. Too often, we find improv groups clearly more convinced by their own talent than any they display, being lacklustre, unimaginative, and worse, smug. Battle Acts work very hard for their audiences.
