The Clones (Insanity Point, 16-20 August)

A different show every night: The Clones have a rocky start to a limited run with some bad improv habits on show.

If there's one aspect of live performance that has suffered from depleted in-person audiences even as restrictions lift, surely it's improv. Unlike stand up or sketch (the latter of which has really benefitted from a demand for online, pre-recorded comedy), improv needs an actively engaged audience at the venue to suggest prompts and respond to the scene's progress in real time.

A smaller or more spread out audience feels less confident to yell out suggestions or offer up vocal feedback and this force is against Nottingham based improvisers Lloydie James Lloyd and Liam Webber, The Clones, as they begin their part-streamed and part-live run. Nonetheless, they fail to summon the energy or narrative drive to overcome more than a low-stakes, stilted show.

"When topics veer into divorce and the ethical conundrum of having children during a climate crisis (no joke), it's likely the audience will feel that promise of a spaceship is barely being fulfilled."

Given the location prompt of spaceship tonight, Lloyd grills the audience member for their thought process in a promising piece of audience work. The resultant scene however ignores the vast possibilities of sci-fi and settles on the mundanity based off a response of "just want to get away from it all". There's a distinct low-energy quality to the scenes and when topics veer into divorce and the ethical conundrum of having children during a climate crisis (no joke), it's likely the audience will feel that promise of a spaceship is being barely fulfilled.

Whilst Webber throws in some additional characters to puncture the slowed momentum, both performers are guilty of blocking which often grinds scenes to a halt. One-off jokes have a habit of devolving into tangents which whilst initially funny hold diminishing returns and importantly lead the performers away from the plot at hand.

The unique joy of improv is that for the remainder of the run, The Clones may kick up that energy and light on a setting which better suits their brand of awkward humour. However, there are some fundamentally bad improv habits which the audience will have to overlook as they're a lot harder to reform overnight.

The Clones are performing live from Insanity Point in Nottingham with a stream feed until 20th August, find out more and buy tickets here.