Our Unscripted Players Big April Show comes to our stage THIS WEEK! We’re super excited to see two brand new, improvised productions from our talented players. But first, let’s introduce you to the casts!
Will Gawned
What’s your favourite Rom Com and why? ‘Crazy Rich Asians‘. It has a lot of fairytale rom-com elements (oh, your boyfriend is secretly a billionaire? Like OMG!) and a lot of very real emotional family drama. It blends a sweet and authentic love story with a huge cast of fabulous clowns.
How much chaos should there be in the perfect rom-com? Love is absurd against the background randomness of the Universe! The perfect rom-com is 100% chaos.
What’s your favourite thing about UP? It’s exciting to work with new people, and to bring new concepts and formats to life. Being in an UP show is like having a free 10 week improv course, and then you get to perform a show!
Why should people come and see the show? Come and see Roll for Romance, and while mingling in the bar before or after the show, you might just bump into the person with whom you’ll have a life-long passionate love affair! Do you really want to risk missing out on meeting the one? If that hasn’t convinced you, then consider that we are but specks of dust floating in an infinite and uncaring Universe, and you could do a lot worse than spending an evening laughing at a spontaneously generated romantic comedy.
Jo Whyman
How much chaos should there be in the perfect rom-com? At least one BIG MISUNDERSTANDING and one or two romantic subplots which are not the main meet-cute/meet-ugly.
What’s been your favourite moment in rehearsals? Playing a character called Noelle Christmas in a christmas-themed rom com set in a Christmas tree emporium. Shockingly, she falls for a man named Forrest Christian.
What are you looking forward to about the shows? Performing on three consecutive evenings for the first time ever. Can’t wait!
Why should people come and see the show? Come see the show for some sugary, possibly dark, perhaps bizarre romantic escapism. Also, we are all lovely.
What’s your favourite thing about improv? Escaping reality and getting to do and say things I would never dare to in real life.
Waheeda Hales
What’s your favourite Rom Com and why? My favourite romcom is Love, Actually. I love the fact that it explores every aspect of love (puppy love, forbidden love, long-distance love etc) and is set in a pre-Covid world where people weren’t afraid of the airport or physical contact! It is also funny.
What is the most chaotic dating/rom com story you’ve heard/seen? A 32 year old spinster goes on her first conservation holiday to Romania and meets a bloke 23 years her senior on a station platform. They spread pig dung on a wall, get lost in the woods, visit Dracula’s museum in Transylvania and embark on an 8 hour train journey to Bucharest. On returning to Britain, they start a year-long long-distance relationship before moving in together. The day after they get engaged, they receive a house visit from his ex (who has been living in America). The couple are celebrating their tenth wedding anniversary this November, by attending another wedding! (That’s my story, by the way…)
What are you looking forward to about the shows? I am looking forward to actually performing in an improv show, which is something I’ve never done before! I’d like to see how the dice rolls and the choices made as a result.
What’s your favourite thing about improv? Improv is wonderful, an escape from real life while sometimes reflecting it? I have performed improv in different groups, in different countries even, and I always get a strong sense of community among improvisers. No need for props/sets/costumes-just “Yes, Let’s!”
Gemma Kerr
What is the most chaotic dating/rom com story you’ve heard/seen? The Netflix extended christmas universe has a special place in my heart for how completely unhinged it all is. I don’t know what has happened to Vanessa Hudgens since High School Musical, but I love this attitude to her work she seems to have now. She’s in like 8 of these films… why?
How much chaos should there be in the perfect rom-com? If there is one thing rom-coms have taught me, it’s that romance SHOULD be as chaotic as possible or it’s not true love. Right? So my life is going to plan right?
What are you looking forward to about the shows? I’m really looking forward to having the dice rolls just mess everything up completely. That would be true to how both Dungeons and Dragons, and rom-coms feel. I want thing to not go well for me (within the bounds of the show).
What’s your favourite thing about UP? My favourite thing about UP is always the people. Getting the chance to meet, and improvise with, new people is such a great opportunity. It keeps me learning and growing as a person.
Bonj
What is the most chaotic dating/rom com story you’ve heard/seen? So these two climbers are in a relationship, but the woman’s father (also a climber) doesn’t like the guy she’s dating, so he challenges him to win a climbing competition that they all enter (including the father), but the guy wins, so the father pushes him off the cliff breaking 3 of his limbs. Oh wait – this was actually one of our rehearsals – the dice rolls were against us that day.
How much chaos should there be in the perfect rom-com?Roughly the amount as in the in the answer to the previous question.
What’s been your favourite moment in rehearsals? My favourite moment was this meet cute with a trainee assassin who’s mark was also the love interest, unfortunately it was quite early on so we never got to see it play out.
What’s your favourite thing about improv? Unlike most of life, it’s encouraged to turn up unprepared.
Tina Malhotra
