The end of another Oxford term, and another set of Wheatsheaf shows. Raccoons were unleashed on spaceships, tobacconists turned to kidnapping and the Radcliffe Camera burned down, but no one seemed to mind. We also hosted our IMPenetrable mystery show! For those of you who missed it, our surprise was the very wonderful Theatersportgroep Parnassos, who joined us for some international improvised fun. They’ve taught us a few new games, now renamed for an English audience and regularly served up at Imping events: the Dutch may be gone but the hilarity of “Going Dutch” lives on in the Wheatsheaf. Tis the season to be jolly Oxford-style, and we’ve imped about at many a lovely ball this term (including one at the Other Place – Emmanuel College Cambridge showed us a lovely time). Shout out for a personal favourite goes to Linacre: they let us dress up as Wonderland characters and unleashed us on their guests to pretend we were rabbits and cats and queens. Normally when I’m pretending to be a caterpillar, no one will join in, let alone offer me an entire Wonderland themed party to play in.
Other summer highlights included recording some radio exploits for Jack FM, and taking weekend trips to the Wychwood music festival and the Stratford-upon-Avon festival. Where better to improvise a Shakespeare than in the home of the bard himself? We’re still hoping that “The Blue Peter Presenter of Leicester” might get picked up by the RSC sometime soon. All in all, the Imps were thoroughly imped out by the end of June.
However: now that we’ve had a good sleep and a little time for contemplation, tea and a biscuit, I can’t help feeling it’s high time we got back to it. And it just so happens that there’s a festival around the corner... yes, plans are underway for the Edinburgh fringe! With less than a week to go until the earliest birds among the Imps make their way to that fair city, our excitement is mounting. This is our eighth year at the festival, and we’re back at the Gilded Balloon, every day in the Nightclub. I say it often – too often – but this time I mean it with all my heart: “HURRAH!”
Just to get your Edinburgh appetite going, we’ve prepared a couple of dishes. First, the lovely folk at Whatsonstage.com have asked us to join their ‘community blogger’ team. Check out our blogs here to get an insight into the world of the Imps flat (don’t look too closely for your own health). We’ve begun with our pre-Edinburgh prep...
Second: how do you describe an Imps show to someone who’s never been? Our wondrous video imp team explains here ...and here.
See you there? With love and trembling excitement,
Sylvia x