Paris Fringe 2026
L’art Supreme de l’improvisation
Caspar Schjelbred
Genre: Devised, Improvised Theatre, Physical Theatre
Venue: Ground Control
Festival: Paris Fringe
Low Down
Chaque jour, vous affrontez des situations auxquelles vous n’êtes pas préparé. Un improvisateur s’est entraîné exactement pour ça. Ce qui se passe dans sa tête est normalement invisible : les choix instantanés, les impulsions, les moments de doute. Ce spectacle met le tout au grand jour.
Translation:
Every day, you face situations for which you are unprepared. An improviser has trained for exactly that. What goes on inside their head is usually invisible: the split-second choices, the impulses, the moments of doubt. This show brings it all out into the open.
Review
Standing before us Caspar Schjelbred talks about improvisation – what is it and did we know that we do it in our every day lives? He has an agile presence, does several quick flashes of improvisations, walks around a chair and sits down. He is a trained physical actor who chats a lot in between each micro scene and – voilà!
After some mime, point fixe and gestural expressions, Schjelbred explains (in french) what he did and what it means. He checks in with the audience and – c’est parti! He launches into physical storytelling mode while narrating the setup, discusses the pronunciation of ‘pause’ and ‘pose’ and really wants us to get what he is doing. His passion overflows and any minor flaws in a loose structure to the show are overcome because people are relaxing and enjoying his quirky personality and chatty lead ins to each new topic and physical example. Schjelbred’s anecdotes en route to a scene show us insight into people, prompting us to notice specific posture, facial expressions, walk and how each character looks at the other. It’s fascinating stuff! Entertaining and humorous, too.
Creating a series of different characters with different focus and tilt of the eyes, head and face and body movement we learn the finer points of body language. Schjelbred is good company, engaging and imaginative and the fifty minute show passes quickly. He has elements of clown in him as he presents as himself in his own world of improvisation. He is in his element and is very keen for us to share his strong interest, and we willingly follow.
Leading us by explanations and instructions, Schjelbred asks us to connect our minds and our imagination. Later he lets us know that it is our turn to tell the stories and we engage in simple exercises from our chairs, making subtle changes in our head position, looking up and down and side to side. Schjelbred shows us several other physical acting motifs and brief scenes with graceful movement. This is a wonderful way to spend time, to become aware of the art form of improvisation and an innovative way to sharpen our observational skills. Amiable and intense he is very personable and charming and holds the focus of the audience as if giving a friendly lecture demonstration. Schjelbred is skilled at improvisation, entertaining and enlightening!
