Connor Ratliff completes an intense month in Edinburgh with ‘George-prov: An Improvised Theatrical Experience’. Only three of four chances to catch the show remain, and on the evidence of the first, it’s a ticket worth picking up.
The set-up is suitably kooky, Ratliff explaining he is not actually George Lucas but a fully realised, and pre-recorded avatar using Connor as a meat-suit. From there the audience prompts are kept minimal, a couple of words here and there, arising from events in the live-invented drama. Perhaps there’s a letter being read, and George needs to know who it’s from, or a show comes on an imaginary screen, what show?
What becomes quickly clear is Ratfliff’s skill with the art of improv. The stalwart of the Upright Citizens Brigade theatre is just so very at home in creating rich, absurd, and coherent narratives, that it’s easy to forget it’s improvised. That he does so without ever breaking the George Lucas character is a testament to so many years inhabiting the role in the George Lucas Talk Show and beyond. So if you’ve ever wanted to see what adventures an introverted, socially awkward Billionaire might have just going about their daily life, go see it at once!
Now, it’s one thing to spot zingers along the way of an improvised absurdist comedy, but it’s quite another to build in prolonged set-ups, and call-backs. Played as one, continuous scene, however, that’s precisely what Ratliff does. There’s little point describing a plotline which won’t occur again, however, a scene involving Lucas watching a rough cut of the new Snow White movie is absolute genius. If the actual release features accidental homicide, I hope Connor gets some residuals. However, this isn’t lunatic improv, it’s well paced, purposeful storytelling based on a bizarre premise.
Kudos are also due to whichever talented person operates the tech desk. You’d swear the lighting changes were pre-planned and cued, such are the seamless transitions. It’s subtle changes here, for example, that emphasise swift scene shifts on stage, be it from plane cockpit to cabin, or gates of the underworld to the sitting room of the underworld.
However, ultimately this is Ratliff’s show, and if you only dip your toe into one improv show before August is out, you should strongly consider ‘George-prov: An Improvised Theatrical Experience’.
