If you want a taste of what it’s like to be a super spy - or at least the Poundland version - then Sabotage could be the improvised game show for you. You’re invited to find the mole and the stakes are high. Through a series of increasingly silly improv games played out between our four suspects, you can try and decipher which one you think is the mole, deliberately trying to sabotage the game.
A rambunctious hour that’ll simply fly by.
The folks behind Sabotage at OwlBird Productions have some real improv chops, including talent from Fringe favourite CSI: Crime Scene Improvisation, and it shows. Our host brings immediate energy to the stage, helping to quickly relax us into the chaos to come. The props may be pleasingly low-fi, but the performances are quality. In fact, the performers are all genuinely hilarious: the simple raise of an eyebrow from one is enough to send the man on my left into fits of laughter. Like the best improv actors, they’re more than happy to dive into whatever’s coming, even when it wasn’t an intended part of the show. On stage, they play improv games (such as having to continue a scene using only questions), and sillier challenges (such as having to hide whether they have a marshmallow in their mouth). They seem to take real joy in the event, which in turn is truly infectious. They laugh just as much as the audience do, and gladly bicker about who could be the mole.
Perhaps its one flaw is that there’s less for the audience to do than initially promised. Although everyone has the opportunity to participate - and in some ways, everyone will - not every game is interactive, and the cast maintain their grip on the reins throughout. This could be for the best, as it allows the chaos to remain somewhat organised, and, after all, the audience have paid to be performed to rather than with. Some games are also a little less entertaining than others, but they’re all performed in quick fire, so there’s plenty of opportunity to move onto something with more pace.
Bring all your friends for a rambunctious hour that’ll simply fly by. Although finding the mole is really just the framework for the event, the performers take it very seriously. Even if you’re watching closely, you might just find your detective skills to be challenged.
