ComedyLondonReview

CSI: Crime Scene Improvisation – Wilton’s Music Hall, London

Reviewer: Scott Matthewman

Narrative improvisational comedy has carved itself out a respectable niche over the years. Talented companies focus on one particular genre (such asAustentatious, creating affectionate pastiches of Jane Austen’s Regency romances) or medium (e.g., theShowstopper!musical theatre improv show) and use established, familiar tropes on which to hang their comedic skills.

One such company isCSI:Crime Scene Improvisation, which takes as its source the sort of murder mystery where everyone is a suspect and could be the murderer until the moment of the final reveal. So many such stories, whether in novels or on episodic procedural TV shows, stick to a commonly defined arc from murder to confession. And so, too, doesCSI, fitting a completeand completely newmurder into a brisk hour of solid laughs.

This particular company celebrates its 10th year with a one-off performance at Wilton’s Music Hall, to which it will return in September after an August run at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. In those 10 years, the company has picked up fans who have become repeat attendees, but the nature of the show is such that newcomers will feel immediately at ease.

As with many improv shows, the narrative is determined by call-outs from the audience. InCSI’s case, it determines the name and profession of the victim, as well as the weapon with which the crime was effected. Everything else is up for grabs. This is how one ends up watching an investigation into how ice hockey referee Ron Plunger was murdered by his own poor judgment.

Lee Apsey’s investigator corrals a series of suspects, from Sarah Kempton’s assistant referee to Danielle Downey’s rage-fuelled, hockey-playing widow and Steve Bond’s hapless Zamboni driver who doubles as the team’s mascot.

With successive scenes, each performer introduces a new character twist or plot advancement that calls into question all that has come before and casts suspicion upon themselves and other characters. Slips of the tongue or memory lapses are picked up on by the rest of the cast and woven into the murder mystery tapestry: Was a contradictory statement a lie to protect the guilty, a red herring, or an opportunity to riff and propel the story in another direction entirely? In the evening’s best moments, it could quite conceivably be all three.

Audience engagement is solid throughout, with Apsey regularly opening the floor to pose questions of the suspects. Each answer again reshapes the narrative in hilarious ways. The floor is then opened for the final time as we are called upon to determine which of the suspects did it.

That’s a variation from the typical murder mystery, of course. In traditional storytelling, the culprit is known by the author, and the final reveal often comprises a walkthrough of how the master detective was able to sift the facts of the case to determine the killer. Here, whoever the audience picks takes on the admission of guilt and then must deliver a full confession that ties every strand and every joke together.

In any improv show, one can expect some jokes not to land. Here, there are occasionally such flubs, but we have a company experienced enough to move on quickly or to transform what could have been a comedic dead end into a finessed joke that is truly delightful.

As the inspector (and his audience of 300 newly qualified assistant detectives) apprehend their killer, it is apparent just whyCrime Scene Improvisationhas been able to keep going for 10 years. It’s a genre that offers a strong spine for improv comedy, and a troupe that knows exactly how to deliver.

Reviewed on 12 July 2024

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The Reviews Hub London is under the editorship of Richard Maguire. The Reviews Hub was set up in 2007. Our mission is to provide the most in-depth, nationwide arts coverage online.

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