Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Shall I compare thee...?

Would you like to have your mind boggled? Then look at this link below (sorry, can never remember how to do the wee screen thing).

The background to this is that Daughter 2's husband-to-be is an actor and improviser - he belongs to Showstopper, an amazing company which improvises musicals - words (rhyming) and music (harmonising) from audience suggestions about plot, characters, genre etc. I don't know how they do it.

And this is even more astonishing - it's one of his colleagues, Shaun, who's in Showstopper and another company called School of Night, and he's really, honestly, improvising a sonnet based on the tin hat he'd only just been shown. Daughter 2's chap was filming it. Shaun had just finished improvising a sonnet about a yellow pencil and D2's chap was filming it to upload on to YouTube, but Shaun vanished from view by sitting down just as D2's chap was zooming in, so they had to film a second one.

You'd think it was impossible; but D2 swears it was genuine improvisation. Shaun can do this any time.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofGDRyFzJiU

It would take me a day to write a sonnet with a pencil and paper and even then I'm not convinced it would be nearly as good.

You could look at one of the Showstopper clips too, and maybe go and see them if they're performing anywhere near you. They really are good. They're mainly in the London area but are coming to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe as usual.

7 comments:

  1. Hello Isabelle,

    I just wanted to add my warmest congratulations both on your retirement, and the birth of your gorgeous grandson. The pictures are lovely! In case you're wondering, I am one of your lurkers! You won't remember me, I don't suppose- I was one of your Adult Returner students at college a couple of years ago (the English one with the very long blonde hair), and you told me of your writing here after I wrote an essay about my experiences on the internet. I've been keeping up with your blog ever since and really enjoying it!
    Anyway, now you're retired and no longer have to worry about being possibly 'outed' at work, so to speak, I thought I'd say hello,

    All the very best Isabelle,

    Clarissa

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  2. Wow! Quite amazing!

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  3. Of course I remember you, Clarissa. I often wonder how you're doing. You never update your blog, or at least you hadn't last time I checked. It would be lovely to keep in touch.

    Thanks for the congratulations!

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  4. oh. my.goodness.

    that is astonishing.....and very moving. What a talent!

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  5. That is amazing!

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  6. Wow. That is indeed incredible. And he's using some really great vocab too so it's not just tat. Very very clever. Congrats on your new grandson, by the way! Now you'll be busier than ever!

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  7. How lovely - family is so important. How very nice to see those pictures!

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