Telling stories on the fly
by Sean-Paul Boynton
In the year 1599, William Shakespeare penned one of his most famous soliloquies, spoken by the character Jacques in As You Like It, which contains these immortal opening lines: “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players: They have their exits and their entrances; and one man in his time plays many parts, his acts being seven ages.”Over 400 years later, British actor Kevin Tomlinson used those words as inspiration for his latest work, appropriately titled Seven Ages,
which presents
the life of a human being as it goes through the “seven ages” of life, from infancy to senility, just
as Jacques so eloquently described
it. Because
the show is completely
improvised – drawing on audience suggestions, the show changes night after night – it’s only appropriate that Tomlinson
stage the production
at Loose Moose Theatre, Calgary’s reputable institution for improv. As Tomlinson says, the decision to bring the show to Loose Moose was no accident, as it symbolizes a special kind of homecoming for the seasoned performer.“The first time I visited Calgary was in 1997, to the Loose Moose International Improvisation Summer School,” Tomlinson remembers. “This visit changed my life. Up until then, I’d worked
as a script-based actor
in England, but having seen the Moose in action and all the wonderful improvisation shows they do, I was inspired. I had a ‘Eureka!’ moment, sitting in the audience, when I realized this is what I needed to dedicate my life to: live improvisation. I was 26 at the time and truly, seeing the Loose Moose show, changed my
life. It was like a religious experience.”
After returning to Calgary two years later to become an actual student within Loose Moose’s world-regarded improv school, Tomlinson immediately gave up acting
to focus on creating narrative
improvisation-based productions
– the kind Loose Moose has made a specialty.“We definitely focus on more story-based improv,” says Loose Moose’s Immanuela Lawrence. “Most people’s experience with improv
comes from shows held in pubs, or Whose Line Is It Anyway?, which is more gag-based and laugh-a-minute kind of stuff. Not to say that we don’t make people laugh, but we prefer to tell stories through improv; I think that takes more skill than the gag stuff.”As Lawrence points out, Tomlinson isn’t the only student of the Loose Moose education program to go out and use those skills as the foundation for a successful performing career: members of the Kids In The Hall comedy troupe and classic TV
show, as well as the men behind
the cult hit FUBAR, are just some of the luminaries born out of
Loose Moose over the company’s
30-year history.Right now, both the theatre and Tomlinson are gearing up for the six-day run of Seven Ages, during which the performer says audiences will “hopefully see a new type of improv show.” Considering the source material and its planned execution, that hope may very well be filled.Seven Ages will be at the Loose Moose Improvisation Theatre, on the second floor of the Crossroads Market (1235 – 26th Ave. SE) on April 8-10 and April 15-17 at 8 p.m. Tickets are $15 for students. Don’t forget about Loose Moose for the rest of the year, however; they put on shows every Friday and Saturday night at 8 p.m., where tickets are just $10 for students.